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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 
SPIRITUAL 

LIFE 




m. 





Rev. Andrew Murray 



THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 



A Series of Lectures Delivered Before the Students of 
the Moody Bible Institutei Chicago, 



August, 1895, 



BY 



REV. ANDREW MURRAY, 



OF 



South Africa. 



-o- 



CHICAGO: 

TuppKR & Robertson, 
1896. 



l^E^. 3 189B I 






V- 

\ 






COPYRIGHTED, 1895, BY H. E- MERRII.I.. 



PREFACE. 



Rev. Andrew Murray's writings have been much 
blessed to thousands in this and other lands ; when 
he came to America, in the summer of 1895, earnest 
prayers were going- up from many hearts that his 
platform utterances might be even more abundantly 
blessed. God heard and answered, and the heart 
and lips of His humble servant were wonderfully 
touched with the divine fire. 

It was our privilege to listen to the Chicago lec- 
tures, and to gather stenographic reports for publi- 
cation, with a view to passing the *' spoken word" 
to many who were deprived of the privilege of lis- 
tening to this man of God. 

We send these printed pages forth, the most of 
which have been personally revised by Mr. Murray, 
with a prayer that God may use them to His glory 
in bringing blessing to many hearts. 

The^ Pubi^ishejrs. 



CONTENTS. 



Carnal or Spiritual 1 

The Spirit of Ivif e in Christ Jesus 14 

The Fruit of the Spirit is I^ove 29 

The Self-life, the Hindrance to the Spiritual Life. .. . 41 

The Holy Spirit in Kphesians 59 

Be Filled with the Spirit — (1st lecture) 73 

Praying- in the Power of the Holy Ghost 89 

The Holy Spirit in Galatians 103 

Be Filled with the Spirit — (2nd lecture) 116 

Christ Bringing Us to God 129 

Christ Iviveth in Me 143 

The Heavenly Treasure in the Karthen Vessel 159 

Willing- and Doing 173 

Yield Yourselves Unto God 193 

Jesus Able to Keep . . , 210 

The Lrife of Rest 230 



THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 



Carnal or Spiritual. 




'HROUGHOUT the church of Christ there is a 
universal complaint of the feebleness of the 
Christian life, and there are tens of thousands of 
souls longing- to know how to lead a better life. 
They find in God's word promises of perfect peace, 
of a faith that overcomes the world, of a joy that is un- 
speakable, of a life of ever abiding* communion with 
Christ, hidden in the hollow of God's hand, and in 
the secret of his pavilion. But alas, thousands say 
they know not how to obtain it. Our meetings 
have just this one object: to try and find out what 
are the possibilities of the Christian life as God 
has revealed them in His word, what are the hind- 
rances that keep the majority of believers out of 
that life, and what are the steps by which to come 
in and take possession. 

I want to begin by calling your attention to what 
is always important at the outset of these confer- 
ences. There are two stages in the Christian life: 
the lower stage under the power of the flesh, and 
the stage of the true life in the power of the Spirit. 
Let me direct your attention to a passage in 1 Cor, 
3: 1-4. 



2 THE SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

There you have the first sorted Christians, some 
are spiritual and some are carnal. And Paul says 
he finds it of the utmost importance, when he 
teaches people, to find out which of the two' they 
are; for if he g'ave what is food to the spiritual to 
the carnal it would not do them any g-ood. "I 
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as 
unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." You 
are in Christ, you are real Christians, but alas, you 
are feeble Christians, just like infants. " I have fed 
you with milk and not with meat." There are some 
truths that are just like milk, suitable for carnal 
Christians; other truths of God's word, deep spirit- 
ual truths, are for spiritual people. " For hitherto 
ye v/ere not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye 
able for ye are j^et carnal." There you have the 
word ''carnal" again. He says plainly,! want you 
to know that you are carnal, believers, but carnal 
believers, "For," here comes the proof, "For 
whereas there is among* you envying- and strife, and 
divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" He 
asks them to answer the question. The word "car- 
nal" comes from the Latin word meaning" "flesh." 
If you do the works of the flesh this proves you are 
carnal, j^ou v/alk as men do, not as children of God 
do, who lead a heavenly life. ' ' One says I am of 
Paul, and another, I am of ApoUos; are ye not 
carnal?" For the fourth time you have the word 
"carnal" a.nd for the second time the very pointed 
question for them to answer " Tell me, are ye not 
carnal?" 

By the help of God I shall speak to you upon 
these two points. 



CARNAI, OR SPIRITUAI.. 3 

1. What it is to he not Spiritual hut Carnal. 

2. The Way From Carnal to SpirituaL 

I. NOT SPIRITUAL BUT CARNAL. 

1. You are not spiritual but carnal, the apostle 
says. I am desirous that everyone as we g-o along 
try himself and answer the question, "Am I still 
carnal, or am I by the grace of God spiritual?" 
You know a doctor cannot do jom any g-ood unless 
there is first a thoroug-h diagnosis of the case. He 
asks a number of questions, examines your lungs 
and heart, finds out what is wrong and prescribes 
the needful remedy. Until you find out what is 
wrong all the preaching of the most heavenly 
truths will do you no good. People must be 
brought to the realizing of their carnal state ere the 
knowledge of the spiritual life can be any real ben- 
efit. 

"Oh God, we pray Thee, reveal the mystery of 
the Divine truth; the mystery of our own hearts, 
and the carnal state; the mystery of the Holy Spirit, 
and the spiritual life. We pray Thee now to come 
in and teach us. Give us grace to say, *Lord 
search me, and if I am carnal, oh, discover it today, 
and open up to me the way into the spiritual life, 
to live as a spiritual man. 'God grant it." 

I think if we look carefully at this passage we 
shall find four principal marks of the carnal state. 

1. It is a state of protracted infancy. If I had 
here today a beautiful little child six months old 
with its chubby hands and feet, you would say 
"What a perfect child," but if in three years time 
we found that the child had not grown an inch we 



4 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

should conclude that something was the matter. 
If in another three years we again found no growth, 
we should at once say there is some terrible disease 
in that child that prevents its growth, for where 
there is health there is growth. That is now what 
Paul says to the Corinthians. You are young 
Christians, babes in Christ. At first a Christian 
may be carnal for he is 3'oung and does not know 
what sin is, but when a man has been a Christian 
for sometime, say after six months, a year or three 
years, or even ten years, and he does not grow, but 
remains at the same place where he started from as 
a babe, there is something the matter; there is some 
terrible disease; that disease is the caj'jial mind, A 
Christian when under the power of the flesh is in a 
state of protracted infancy. You find it said in the 
epistle to the Hebrews that when after they had 
been so long Christians they ought to be teachers, 
helping others, they still had to be fed with milk 
and were not able to take the meat of the full grown 
man. This is a state of protracted infanc}- and it is 
the state of the greater part of the Christian church. 
How many there are who will testify that the best 
time was the first three months after conversion; and 
after that they began to go back; they lost their joy 
and alas, they have never had such joy since then. 
They havelosttheir first love. At that time they used 
to conquer sin, but now it has the mastery. What 
are the marks of a babe? One is the babe cannot 
help himself, he has got to be helped by others. 
The other, he cannot help anyone else. Look at a 
baby in a house, 3'ou have got to have mother or 
sister or nurse to take care of him. A little babv 



CARNAI, or SPIRII^UAt. 5 

needs always to be helped and cared for. That is 
the way with many Christians. They go to church, 
to prayer-meeting-s, conferences, and are ever seek- 
ing- help from others. A little infant six months 
old cannot help another; so there are Christians 
who cannot really help others by their spiritual ex- 
perience. Dear friends let us take this first mark of 
carnal state, test ourselves, and if there be no 
healthy growth let us bow before God in shame. 

2. The carnal state is a state of sin and failure; 
no victory over sin. Paul writing to the Corinthi- 
ans says, "There is among you envying, and 
strife, and divisions." That was the work of the 
flesh and this was the great reason that he had to 
write to them the thirteenth chapter, because of 
their quarrelling. One exalted Paul, another 
thought ApoUos was the more eloquent; another 
thought that Peter was older than either and better; 
they were divided into religious parties. They were 
just squabbling among themselves and got excited, 
and had strifes, divisions and envy. In Galatians, 5th 
chapter, you have envyings, strifes, etc. as the works 
of the flesh. Do we not find Christians who in 
some respects have a good measure of the grace of 
God and yet have never really conquered their tem- 
per, and so when another says a sharp thing to them 
they give a sharp reply? How many Christians 
there are who have never learned to love as God 
wants them to love, to love the unlovable. What 
is this but that they are yet in the carnal state? 
In them the flesh has more power than the Spirit. 
Friends, until we confess with shame, I am carnal, 
we will not get into the life of the spiritual man. 



6 THE SPIRITUAL LIF:^. 

May God search us, anU reveal our true state. Let 
us say, what, is it that hinders the brig-htness of my 
life? and you will g-et the answer from God. Two 
powers are striving- for mastery over you, Spirit and 
flesh; and if the Spirit is not ruling- you it is be- 
cause the flesh is ruling-. This is why a man g-ives 
way to pride, self-conceit, worldliness, the lust of 
the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. 
It is nothing but that he is still in the carnal state. 
You know a thing- always gets its name from what 
is its most prominent characteristic. A spiritual 
man g-ets his name from the fact that the Spirit 
triumphs, rules in his life, even thoug-h there may 
still be somewhat of the flesh. You cannot be in 
intercourse with him without feeling- that the Spirit 
is leading-, g-uiding- and contrcling-. He is called 
spiritual because spirituality is his chief character- 
istic. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Know ye 
not that ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost that 
dwelleth in you." There was somewhat of the 
Spirit in them, but they had allowed the flesh to 
rule. The question comes to us, as a voice from heav- 
en, "Areye not carnal?" That v/orldliness, that uch 
faithfulness, that neglect of God's word. It is but 
the mark of one thing— j^ou are carnal, you have not 
g-iven yourself over wholly to live the spiritual life. 
3. The third mark of the carnal state. Along- 
v/ith this carnal state there may be found a great 
deal of spiritual gift. This is a very solemn 
thought. You know how this is illustrated in the 
case of the Corinthians. In the 1st chapter Paul 
says, "I thank God ** that in everything 3'e are en- 
riched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge." 



CARNAIv OR SPIRITUAI,. 7 

There we£e_s£irituaLgifts among- the Corinthians: 
gifts of prophecy, tong-ues, and many other gifts 
most remarkable. Indeed the gift of tongues was 
so remarkable that Paul had to check and warn 
them to be careful in their use of this gift. And 
yet Paul writes the whole epistle with the one idea, 
that they were full of quarrjelliiig, pride, selfish- 
ness, etc. A man may have a spiritual gift of 
preaching or be able to speak with power, and yet 
his private life m.a.y be filled with pride until the 
world says, "we don't believe in that man." Y/here 
is his humility? A man may be an evangelist and 
lead hundreds to Christ and yet you will hear it said 
"How full of self/' The world says "I don't be- 
lieve in that man he is too full of himself." Can it 
be that a man who is a powerful man in the service 
of God can be carnal? It can be. That is what we 
want to make plain. A man may claim the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit and get it as a Spirit of power 
and a Spirit of zeal, and yet that man may be ter- 
ribly lacking in the graces of a holy life — in humil- 
ity, gentleness, tenderness, before God and man, in 
that meekness of the Lamb of God which is the 
chief grace of the Christian life. Look at the Cor- 
inthians; they had spiritual gifts of prophecy, 
tongues, etc., yet they were unwilling to be subject 
one to the other, there v/as strife as to who should 
speak first. Don't think that the carnal state is the 
state of a man in whom there is no good. A man 
may be a preacher, evangelist, sabbath school 
teacher, organizer, and yet, alas, God may say to 
that man, "Are you not carnal?" Does he not do 
as much good in the end? No. He may help an- 



8 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

otlier to the Christian life but the Christian life he 
helps him to is such a mixed one that it is feeble 
and does not stand. The man whose inner life is 
under the rule of the Spirit, who is himself spirit- 
ual, will beget really spiritual children; he will im- 
part the life of God in power. Being- able to exer- 
cise spiritual gifts is no neccessarj proof that we 
are not carnal. 

4. The carnal state brings an incapacity for re- 
ceiving spiritual truth. Just note how distinctly 
Paul says this in writing to the Corinthians. In 
the first and second chapters he had been speaking 
about himself, Christ having sent him to preach the 
cross, not with human wisdom but in the power of 
the Spirit. Then in the third chapter he speaks 
about the church, and he turns to them and says, I 
have received the mj'stery of God but I cannot tell 
you. Why not? Were the Corinthians very stupid? 
No, they were great seekers after wisdom, they 
prided themselves upon their knowledge. In the 
passage that I read a short time ago you will re- 
member it said they were "enriched in all know- 
ledge." The}^ were a cultured, thoughtful people. 
The wisdom of the world was beautiful in their 
eyes, and yet Paul said, all your wisdom will not 
help you. If I were to speak spiritual truth you 
would take it into a carnal mind and intellect and it 
would be an injur v to you. There is a terrible mis- 
take made right at this point very often. Paul sa3'S, 
before I can write to them I must settle it in my 
mind that they are carnal people. I must let them 
know that they are carnal and bring them to the 
point of realizing that they are carnal. How often 



CARNAI. OR SPIRlTUAt. 9 

in the church of Christ we preach to people who are 
carnal, deep spiritual truths; we clothe our thoughts 
in beautiful words and illustrations; they say "What 
a beautiful sermon" and practically it does them 
very little g-ood. "Was not the sermon true? Was 
not the truth of the Bible in it? Yes, but you 
preached spiritual truth to carnal people. Friends, 
as long" as the Christian is carnal don't g-ive him 
spiritual truth. You must bring- him to the point 
where he recog-nizes that he is carnal. The carnal 
state is incapable of receiving" spiritual truth. 



II. FROM CARNAIv TO SPIRITUAL. 

Paul did not want the Corinthians to rest in the 
carnal state. No ! He wanted them to pass from 
carnal to spiritual. That is what we need too. 
And the question comes, how are we to g-et from the 
one to the other? Note four of the principal steps. 

1. The believer must be convicted, and broug"ht 
to the confession of his being" in the carnal state. 
You know that before a sinner can be converted he 
must be convicted of sin; he must know and confess 
his transg-ressions, and his lost estate. Just so, be- 
lievers must see that they are in a wrong" state; be- 
fore they can g"et into the spiritual life they must 
be broug"ht under conviction of the shame and evil 
of this carnal state. There is a g^reat difference 
between conviction before conversion and this. 
Then, that which principally occupied the mind was 
the thoug-ht, "I am lost, I am under condemnation;" 
the g"reat idea was the g"reatness of his transg"res- 
sions, and the desire to have them pardoned. There 
were two thing's that he was not convicted of: that 



10 ^HK SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

his nature is utterly sinful, tlie other that there are 
many hidden heart sins, that he has never known. 
This is the reason God bring-s a believer into what 
might be termed a second conviction. It is most 
needful that he be fully convicted of two things: the 
utter impotence of the flesh to do any g'ood; the 
mighty power of the flesh to work evil. The flesh 
is ruling' him. He has the Spirit of God in him, 
a,nd why does he yet do these things? It is just the 
seventh of Romans, "I am struggling to do right 
and I cannot." Oh friends, it is when a man is 
brought under conviction of the utter impotence of 
the flesh to do good, its helplessness, that he will 
understand why he lost his temper, and w^hy pride 
comes up, and why lie speaks wrong' words. The 
flesh takes him ca.ptive; the law of sin in him binds 
him hand and foot. Then comes those great hid- 
den sins that the world counts very little, which 
are seen to be works of the flesh. The Holy Spirit 
convicts of pride as being of the flesh; unloving 
thoughts toward v/ife, or child, or servant; self- 
pleasing before God and man; a,nd so he needs an 
entire deliverance, different from that at conversion. 
Then he v/as delivered from the curse of sin, now 
he w^ants deliverance from the powder of sin. Many 
in the church of Christ vnll have to cry, ' ' Woe is 
me, O wretched man that I am, in my flesh dwell- 
eth no good thing." It is simply because the flesh 
has powder that 3^ou sin, j^ou must find deliverance. 
And there is no deliverance but by becoming an en- 
tire spiritual man. 

2nd step is that a man must be made to see and 
believe that the spiritual life is a possibility. A 



CARNAt OR SPIRITUAI.. 11 

great manj people will say in a creed that they be- 
lieve in the Holy Ghost. They have no doubt 
about the existence of the Holy Ghost, and that He 
is the Third Person of the Blessed God-Head. 
They are orthodox on all these points; but, it is an 
intellectual belief. They practically do not believe 
in what the Holy Ghost can do in a believer every 
day of his life. A man must be broug-ht to see that 
there is a spiritual life within his reach; that there 
is a spiritual life v/liich it is his duty to live; that 
there is a spiritual life he is in need of and may 
claim. There is a life in the Spirit. Note such 
expressions as "Walk in the Spirit," "Live in the 
Spirit," " By the Spirit, mortify the deeds, of the 
body." Just take the sixteen verses of the eighth 
chapter of Romans in which the Holy Spirit is men- 
tioned, and a man must begin to see that God wants 
him to be a spiritual man. He cannot bea.r to have 
me carnal. God commands me to be spiritual and 
by the grace of God, just as certainly as Christ's 
blood flowed for my sins, so Christ's Spirit can lead 
me down into the place of absolute helplessness 
where He will live in me in His Divine power, and 
renew my whole nature into spiritual. Oh, take 
this step before I go further. Reach out at once 
and begin in a simple act of faith to obey God's call. 
Say, "O God, a spiritual life is possible, I can be- 
come a spiritual man." Let us begin and believe 
that the God who gave the Holy Spirit delights in 
nothing more than to give the Holy Spirit in each 
of us to live this life. 

When a man is convicted of a carnal life and be- 



12 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

lieves in the possibility of a spiritual life he comes 
to the third step. 

3rd. Are you willing to give up everything to get 
the spiritual life? Then comes the time of strug- 
gling. A great many delight to read about the 
spiritual life, but that is not enough. I must buy. 
At "what price? Give up all. You must sell all to 
buy the pearl of great price. Come with every sin 
and every folly, all temper, everything you love, 
your whole life, and place it in the possession of 
Christ. Die to everything and be fully given up to 
God. It is only in the vessel that is fully cleansed 
that the Holy Spirit can do His work. Here in Chi- 
cago the question is of ten asked, "Will a thing pay?" 
If it will pay men will undertake anything. If 
there is one thing that will pay it is to give up 
everything for God — everything of the flesh — to 
become a truly spiritual man. 

4th and last step. When a man says "I am will- 
ing" then he must come in faith and claim it. It is 
just faith over again. It is faith from beginning 
to end. When a man gives up all, he must look up 
at the Lord Jesus to whom the Father has given 
the Holy Spirit, claim the promise and believe that 
he receives it. Bow before God, the Holy One, in 
deep humility and submission; with faith in His 
promise, His power, His great love, His near provi- 
dence — God, who is a spirit and gives the Spirit, 
will, in the fellowship with Himself, make thee a 
spiritual man. 

May God in His mercy open the eyes of all His 
people to discern the two states of carnal and spirit- 



CARNAI. OR SPIRITUAI,. 13 

ual. May He bring- all who are yet in the carnal 
state to full conviction and confession. And 
throug-h them may He bring* many to the accept- 
ancy of the full spiritual life He has provided in 
Christ Jesus. 



14 THE) SPIRITUAI, I.IFK. 



tTbe Spirit of %ite in dbrist Jesus, 



We learned this morning from God's Word to the 
Corinthians that there are two classes of Christians. 
Paul speaks of some who are carnal and of others 
who are spiritual. I tried to point out what the life 
of the carnal Christian is, what a wrong- and 
wretched state it is; and on the other hand what 
the steps are by which we can g-et out of the carnal 
state into the spiritual. Among- these steps I men- 
tioned first of all that a man must be fully convict- 
ed of the wrong-ness of the carnal state, and of the 
possibilities and blessedness of the spiritual state. 
I want, tonig-ht, to speak of the latter and to set be- 
fore you what God's Word teaches of a life in the 
Spirit. You know when the Children of Israel got 
to Kadesh-Barnea they sent out spies to see what 
the land was like. God expected that when they 
saw the grapes and heard of the beaut}^ of that land 
they would all enter in. So God wants us to look 
at the spiritual life, until we believe that it is in- 
deed to be divided, and within our reach. Later on 
in these addresses we shall have occasion to come 
back to the carnal life and the passage out of it, 



SKVKN bi,e;ssings. 15 

but I want, by God's help to-nig-ht, just to set before 
you what the life is in the fullness of the Spirit, as 
God expects His children to live it day by day. I 
want to take you to a chapter in God's word where 
it is set before us more plainly than in any other 
chapter. Romans, the eig"hth chapter. Let us read 
the first sixteen verses. You will find in these 
seven blessings, seven of the blessed fruits of the 
Spirit in us. 1 shall point them out as we read, 

1. "Who walk not after the flesh but after the 
Spirit. " The whole of our conduct is under the rule 
of the Spirit. 

2. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus hath made Tne free from the law of sin and 
death." The Spirit bring-s us into liberties. 

3. "They that ar^ (2//^r the Spirit * * * ye are 
in the Spirit * * * the Spirit dwells in yoii,''^ The 
Christian has a nev/ nature; God's Spirit is in him. 

4. "Z^6> ;/2//z<i the thing's of the Spirit." To be 
spiritually minded is life and peace. Mind means 
disposition; to mind the thing's of the Spirit, to have 
a spiritual disposition. 

5. Vs. 13. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify 
the deeds of the body ye shall live." The Spirit 
makes the death to sin an actual reality in our body. 

6. "As many as are led by the Spirit oi God they 
are the sons of God." Divine guidance. 

7. " Ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of 
adoption," The Spirit beareth witness with our 
spirit. 

What I want to put before you is this, that all we 



16 THB SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

Have in this chapter is simply the description of the 
normal Christian life. This is a thing- for every 
believer. We are sometimes in danger of talking* 
about the baptism of the Spirit, of being filled with 
the Spirit for service, as though that were all, but 
it is possible, as I pointed out this morning, to have 
baptism of the Holy Spirit for special service and 
yet be carnal. We want to feel that we must not 
seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a power for 
work only, but, as a far more important matter, we 
must have the baptism of the Holy Spirit for our 
whole life. The work must be the outcome of the 
life. There are over 100 men in the gold fields of 
South Africa who have been Christian workers but 
have now given up their religion for gold. It is 
possible that at the time of their service they had 
the Spirit of God but it was a very superficial work 
in their hearts and lives. The Holy Spirit had 
never been allowed to go down into the very depths 
of their being to establish the life of God through 
their whole nature. If He had, they would never 
have gone back. Nothing can take us back when 
the Holy Spirit gets entire possession of our inner 
life. I want to show you this evening what pro- 
vision God has made for you. You know in Eng- 
land that the nobility when they want their names 
to be carried down, entail their estate so that it 
must always go to the eldest son. Often there will 
be younger sons who get almost nothing. God 
does not do that. He disinherits none of His sons. 
He calls all of His children to share alike in the 
blessed gift of the Spirit Holy. All may not have 



SnvnN BI^KSSINGS. 17 

the same g-ift of power for work, but all may and 
must have the fitness for a life full of God. Let us 
all seek Him. 

Let me point you to seven principal thoughts in 
the passage. 

1. The Christian is a man who walks after the 
Spirit. In Galatians it is said, ' ' If we live in the 
Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit." ** Walk in the 
Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." 
My walk is my conduct, what the Bible calls my 
conversation, my course of life, my external manner 
of life. Here I am told as a Christian, God will en- 
able me to v/alk after the Spirit, with the Spirit as 
my inspiration. Unconverted men walk after the 
flesh; the flesh leads them and tells them what to 
do. The Christian can come into the life of the 
Spirit; in it he acts, in it he walks, he has the con- 
tinual hidden guidance of the Spirit of God mould- 
ing* and shaping his will and walk. I may be a 
minister, if I walk after the Spirit, that does not 
mean that I am to pray for the Spirit just before I 
preach, and in other things live after the flesh. No, 
God calls us to walk in the Spirit at all times. Is 
not that what you wish? I need the Spirit so that 
when I sit down at my table, when my temper might 
be tempted to rise, in my business, in trials of any 
kind I may feel the power of the Holy Spirit work- 
ing- in me, and moving me. All my walk is to be 
according to the Spirit. How can I get to that? 

2. Paul says in the second verse "For the law 
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me 
free from the law of sin and death. In the seventh 



18 THE) SPIRITUAI, I,IFK. 

chapter lie speaks of a believer, a regenerated man, 
who delig-hts in the law of God after the inward 
man but who finds another law in his members that 
leads him into captivity to the law of sin and death. 
I am a prisoner, I am a captive, I want to do good 
but I cannot. Suppose a husband who in prison 
with his wife and children all starving*. She writes 
to him " Can you not do something* to help me?" 
He writes back, '*! long- to help you, I would do 
anything" I could to help you, but here I am bound, 
so that I cannot." This is just like the believer in 
the seventh chapter of Romans, "I long* to obey 
God but I cannot." Why? Because he is bound 
with the chains of the flesh, in captivity to the law 
of sin and death in his members. But the Spirit 
sets a man free out of this captivity. "The law of 
the Spirit of life hath made me free from the law of 
sin and death." Let us believe there are two pow- 
ers, the power of the Spirit and the power of sin. 
Which is stronger? Many Christians tell me the 
power of the flesh is stronger. It is very sad that 
so many think thus. Paul tells me, God tells me, 
that the power of the Holy Spirit is stronger and 
the power of the Holy Spirit can make me free from 
the law of sin and death if I trust him. It is not 
here a question of the last root of sin being exter- 
minated. We believe the tendency to evil remains 
to the end, but, we believe this word, too, is literal 
truth, that the Spirit of life in Christ makes me free 
from the law of sin to such extent that it has no 
power over me. My enemy is there, but he cannot 
touch me. After the close of your civil war thosr- 



SKVKN BI^KSSINGS. 19 

who had been slaves could dwell in the presence of 
their former masters; the masters were not dead and 
yet they could not touch them. Just so the Holy 
Spirit can take possession, and in presence of the 
power of sin the Holy Spirit can fill the believer 
and make sin powerless. Are there not many who 
serve God under constrain t, who have to force them- 
selves to g-o and work for God, and then ever feel 
that they come far short; they cannot rejoice in the 
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. The 
Master said, ' ' If the Son make you free ye shall be 
free indeed," but you do not enjoy it. If you be- 
lieved it, if you trusted God's word for it, you would 
begin to long- for the fullness of the Holy Spirit and 
you would understand that nothing less than this 
being made free by the Holy Spirit dwelling in His 
fullness in you can enable you to live an inwardly 
holy life. 

3. "Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if 
so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.''^ "Of 
the Spirit," "After the Spirit," "In the Spirit," 
' ' The Spirit of God in you. " All these expressions 
are used to express the one thoug'ht of the closeness, 
and the reality of the blessed union by which the 
Holy Spirit takes possession of me. I am in Him 
and He is in me just as a man is in the air and the 
air is in him. The air is in my lungs and I am in 
the air that surrounds me. The two things go to- 
gether; I go into the fresh air and the fresh air 
comes into me. Even so the child of God is taken 
out of the life of the flesh and taken into the life of 
the Spirit. The Spirit surrounds him on every side 



20 th:^ spirituai, i^ifej. 

with a divine power that is breathed into him and 
that constitutes his life. He is in the Spirit and 
the Spirit is in him. He is after the Spirit and the 
very nature, the divine nature of the Spirit is in 
him. Have you ever thought about it, how won- 
derful the Spirit of God becomes the very spirit of 
our life. Many people think of the Holy Spirit 
dwelling- in us as a man dwells in a house, the man 
and the house remain separate existances all the 
time. There is no org-auic union, no participation 
of life or nature between the two. That is not the 
way with the Holy Spirit. He comes into my very 
being" and just as my thinking" and willing- and feel- 
ing is my very nature, so by the Holy Spirit, I be- 
come partaker of the divine nature; He enters deep, 
deep, into me and prevades my whole inner life. 
The Spirit of God is in me and I am in the Spirit of 
God. Ought that not to fill us with a holy fear and 
a holy joy? fear lest we should remain ignorant of 
the truth; joy in the expectation of all we will do. 
The Spirit who came out from the Father and the 
Son brings and reveals them to me. And the three 
persons in the one God-Head through Him come in- 
to my heart and so I live in the Spirit. Oh believ- 
ers who do not think it possible to live this blessed 
life. I will tell you the simple reason. Because you 
do not believe God, do not believe that Almighty 
God will dv/ell iti you. Will you not begin and say, 
if it be true I may be in the Spirit just as I am in 
the air, thank God, I think I can lead a holy and 
blessed life. 

4. "They that are after the Spirit do mind the 



SKVKN BI^ESSINGS. 2l 

thing's of the Spirit " What does that word ' 'mind" 
mean? Generally it is used of the intellect, but 
here it means something* else. You know when I 
speak of a hig"hminded man, by mind I mean dis- 
position. A iarg-e hearted man is one of a large 
hearted disposition. To be a spiritual minded man 
is to have the disposition of the Holy Spirit; heav- 
enly minded is a mind that has the spirit and dis- 
position of heaven. To be spiritually minded is life 
and peace. The Holy Spirit is ready to breathe 
within me the very mind and disposition of Christ; 
that is what Paul meant in writing- to the Philipi- 
ans, "Let this mind be in you that was in Christ 
Jesus," etc. If the Holy Spirit comes in and takes 
possession of my disposition I shall have the mind 
of Christ. God's word says, ' ' Love thy neighbor 
as thyself;" you have tried hard but failed because 
it is not natural. But it is no difficulty to a mother 
to be g-entle and loving- because it is her natural 
disposition to be so. Just so the Holy Spirit will 
make my disposition spiritual minded. He lives 
within me, and breathes into me everything- that is 
gentle and Christ-like and humble. He puts it so 
into me that it becomes my very nature. I can love 
him whom I hated. The love of God is indeed a 
wonderful mystery; when it becomes ours the more 
unlovable a man is the more we love him, the more 
unworthy a man is the more love is magnified in 
loving him. You find it so hard to keep your tem- 
pers. There is just one reason for this; you are not 
spiritually minded. The Spirit of God must come 
and^// you. You may have had Him in some 



22 taK SPIRITUAI, LIFK. 

measure but He must fill you deeper and deeper. 
He must fill you with the disposition of Jesus so 
that 3^ou become spiritually minded. Christians! 
would you not long- to have such a disposition that 
everything- about you might be spiritual. The 
Spirit who dwells in you can and will g-ive if you 
yield to Him, 

5. Vs. 13. " If ye throug-h the Spirit do mortify 
the deeds of the body ye shall live." The word 
"mortify" simply means to cause to die. "If ye 
make dead the deeds of the body ye shall live. " 
The man v/ho has not g-iven the body over to the 
Spirit to do His work, what a trouble the body g-ives 
him. How much sin comes out of the body. Many 
Christians never understand that it is the deeds of 
the body that must be made dead. But it is very 
hard, and in fact impossible, until we begin to see 
that it is through the Holy Ghost who is the mighty 
power of God. It is a very simple thing eating 
and drinking a little too much. And is that such a 
great sin? Ask the Bible. "Whether ye eat or 
drink do all to the glory of God." Overeating or 
eating for mere enjoyment, weights and makes the 
body heavy and unfit for prayer. That is the time 
the devil can come to you. A man may be living 
in victory over some sin but through the pleasure 
of ea.ting the devil may get power over his flesh. 
V7hen you think you are only feeding the body you 
are feeding the flesh, you are strengthening it by 
gratifying its appetite. That cannot please God. 
Temper is very much a sin of the flesh. It is in me. 
It is my selfhood. A bundle of nerves is nothing 



but a bundle of self. The Holy Spirit is able to 
mortify the deeds of the body and to reig-u through 
it all with His Divine peace and power. If you 
want to have the deeds of the body mortified, be- 
ware of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. 
Ah, Christians, remember if you want to have your 
body the temple of the Holy Ghost, if you v/ant to 
live a holy life, you must be filled with the Spirit; 
your body, too, must be under the power. You 
might know the mysteries of the heavens, like the 
apostle Paul, but this could give you no help to live 
a holy life. God's word has no help for you except 
as it tells you that you must be filled with the 
Spirit. You know how Scripture speaks about be- 
ing baptized into the death of Christ; we must 
reckon ourselves indeed dead unto sin and alive un- 
to God. It says we are crucified with Christ; we 
are dead. And then it adds, mortify therefore your 
members. My inmost regenerated life is life out of 
death, a life dead to sin in Christ. And the Spirit 
of Christ maintains the power of that death in 
the body. People say that this is too hard. You 
know the Christians of old sometimes gave their 
whole lives to keep down the body; and some of the 
most earnest would go into solitary caves, and yet 
there they found themselves tempted more than 
ever with evil spirits. They were trying to be holy 
by self mortification but they did not succeed. "If 
ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the 
body ye shall live." If you are willing to claim, 
and receive the power of the Holy Spirit the thing 
can be done. It was the Holy Spirit that took 



24 THK SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

Christ to Calvary. It was tliroug-li the eternal 
Spirit He offered Himself as a sacrifice unto God. 
By that eternal Spirit we too, can be led to Cal- 
vary, to the place of crucifixion, to the conformity 
of Christ's death and the experience of its power. 
Have you ever cried in despair, " Oh, that I mig-ht 
be crucified to the world and dead to sin?" The 
Hol}^ Spirit will do it. Oh the blessedness of a life 
filled with this Spirit. 

6. ' ' As many as are lead by the Spirit of God 
they are the sons of God." There you have the 
leading of the Holy Spirit. There are a great many 
people who are always ready to ask, ' ' Do tell me, 
how can I know the leading- of the Holy Spirit? I 
want to know God's will, I pray, and seek, and can- 
not get it." They want to knov/ God's will in some 
perplexing question. I always tell them, you be- 
gin at the wrong end. What does a little child do? 
He comes to his father and says, ' ' I want to be an 
engineer," the father says, "Yes, my son, but you 
must learn a num-ber of things before you can be an 
engineer." The child may say, "I want to be an 
engineer but I don't w^ant to learn all those things. " 
The father will point out that he must learn to add 
one, two and three, and so on, before he can be an 
engineer, and it will take a good Long time; he must 
master the simple things before he can go on to the 
higher. And so I say to the inquirer, the Holy 
Spirit wants to lead j^ou in the simpler things of 
daily life. He wants 3^ou in daily life to be spirit- 
ually minded. Then jou will know the mind of the 
Spirit in special circumstances. If, in your daily 



life, you will say, "Lord, let me know what my con- 
duct today should be," then you will be prepared for 
understanding" His leading* in times of need. Then 
He will lead you into deeper things of God's word. 
Then He will show you how you are to walk. That 
is exactly the life of the Lord Jesus. You remem- 
ber He said, ' ' I cannot do anything- of myself, the 
words I speak are not my own, what the Father 
showeth me I do," etc. He was always listening- to 
the voice of God and was lead by God. Is it not a 
wonderful privileg-e for us? As God says, "As 
many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the 
sons of God." Dear Christians, would you not be 
willing- to sacrifice everything- for that, that you 
mig-ht be led by the Spirit? You know God cannot 
abate His requirements. I must g-ive up having- any 
will of my ov/n, I must desire above everything- to 
lead a holy life like Jesus, in dependent, humble 
waiting- upon God. You say that is hard. It is not 
hard. It is the most blessed life. It is exactly the 
life Jesus lived. Is it not a privileg-e to have the 
blessed God lead and g-uide me all along-, in every- 
thing-. He has promised to do that. ' ' As many as 
are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of 
God." Oh, beloved let us realize what this life is. 
If you speak about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, 
for service — and I want you to speak about it. I 
want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit for your 
work — remember there is something of far deeper 
importance. It is that your whole life, from mo- 
ment to moment, bear the mark of being led by the 
Spirit, of being spiritually minded. The Spirit of 



26 O'HK SPIRITUAI. tIFEj. 

Jesus makes you like Jesus By the Holy Ghost 
you can live a Christ like life. 

7. ^' Ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
ag-ain to fear, but ye have received the spirit of 
adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father." "The 
Spirit dwelleth with our spirit." What Spirit? 
The .Spirit that has been described in the previous 
verses as leading- us, making- us spiritually minded, 
mortifying- the deeds of the body; that is the spirit 
of adoption. This is the Spirit that will bear wit- 
ness that I am a son of God. Many people talk 
about the witness of the Holy Spirit they received 
when they believed. I do not say they are not 
children of God, but they do not live like it. If we 
want the Spirit of adoption by which every day we 
can have that assurance and evidence that can con- 
fidently say, "Abba, Father," then we must be in 
the Spirit and must walk after the Spirit. If by 
Him I am living-, if He dwell in and possess me, if 
I be of the Spirit and after the Spirit, if the Spirit 
is mine, my life will be one of increasing- joy and 
fellowship with God. How g-ently He leads me, 
how close He keeps by me. Through Him God ful- 
fills the word that 'He spoke to the elder son in the 
parable of the prodigal son, "Son, thou art ever 
with me, and all I have is thine." That becomes a 
possession, an experience, made real by the Holy 
Ghost, that makes the spiritual, heavenly minded 
man. "Abba, Father," I do not have to tr}^ and 
feel, or claim, or struggle for the relationship, 
but the Everlasting God reveals Himself to me as a 
Father. So the Living Father makes us to know 



skve;n bi^kssings. '^1 

what it means to be dwelling- in love and dwelling* 
in God, and what all the promises about the Holy 
Spirit mean. "The Father shall send the Com- 
forter that He may abide with you for ever." Be- 
loved Christians there is a. wonderful life, which the 
Holy Spirit makes intensely true. It is a real Ca- 
naan life. It is indeed a solemn, precious thoug-ht. 
God's Holy Spirit can make all God's promises and 
provisions in Christ our experience. Who are ready 
to come into this life tonight, and claim the heritag"e 
as the child of God? Who will cry: I am g'oing- to 
ask that Rom, 8:1-16 shall be literally fulfilled in 
my life. 

Let me suggest four simple steps. Say tonig-ht! 
I must be filled with the Spirit. God commands it. 
My soul needs it. The Spirit long's for it. Christ 
will do it. The world needs it. I cannot live 
aright without it. I must be filled with the Spirit. 

2. I may be filled with the Spirit. God does 
not give a ''must" without a **may." God does 
not say, you must live holy, without saying- you 
may, you can live holy. Say, "I may." God has 
promised it, Christ has purchased it, the Word re- 
veals it, thousands have experienced it. I may be 
filled with the Spirit. 

3. I zvould be filled with the Spirit. Say, Lord, 
my heart longs for it. Beg-in to say, I g-ive up ev- 
erything- O, God, self, sin, self-will, self-confidence, 
the flesh; I give up everything-. I would be filled 
with the Holy Spirit. Lord God, set Thy mark 
upon me; I am an empty vessel waiting- to be filled. 
I would be filled with the Holy Spirit. I a.m ready. 



2^ TH^ SPIRItUAI, life;. 

4. I shall be filled with the Holy Spirit. God 
has promised it to me, I have a right to say, I shall 
be filled with the Spirit. Say that trembling-ly and 
very, very humble. I confess I am carnal, I have 
felt my sinfulness, I confess my sin. My heart is 
willing- for it; I am going to trust God for it. Oh, 
God, Thou doest above what I can ask or think, I 
give myself to Thee entirely, I trust Thee forever, 
I give myself up fully and I claim the filling of the 
Holy Spirit. Thou givest it. 



THK FRUIT OF THK SPIRIT IS I^OVK. 29 



Zbc Spirit ot Xite* 



Last nig-ht I tried to put before you what a life 
filled with the Holy Spirit may be, but more from 
the doctrinal side. These expressions were found 
in Romans, 8th chapter, "Walk in the Spirit," 
"Being- made free by the Spirit from the law of sin 
and death." "Being- in the Spirit," "Having the 
Spirit dwelling- in us," "Throug-h the Spirit morti- 
fying- the deeds of the body, " "Being- led by the 
Spirit," ''Having- the Spirit of adoption." All 
these are truths which have to be appropriated and 
assimilated and worked out in actual life. I want 
this morning- to look at the matter more from the 
practical side, and to show you how this life v/ill 
show itself in our daily walk and conduct. Under 
the Old Testament you know the Holy Spirit often 
came upon men as a Divine Spirit of revelation, to 
reveal the mysteries of God, or for power to do the 
work of God. But he did not then dwell in them. 
Now, as I said yesterday morning-, many just want 
the Old Testament gift of power for work, but know 
very little of the New Testament gift of the in- 
dwelling Spirit, animating and renewing the whole 



30 th:e spirituai, lifk. 

life. We saw last nig^ht that when God gives the 
Holy Spirit His great object is the formation of holy 
character. We saw that it was a gift of a holy 
mind and spiritual disposition, and that we need 
above everything else to say, "I must have the 
Holy Spirit sanctifying my whole inner life if I am 
really to live for God's glory. " You might say that 
when Christ promised the Spirit to the disciples He 
did so that they might have power to be witnesses. 
True, but then they received the Holy Ghost in 
such heavenly power and reality that He took pos- 
session of their whole being at once and so fitted 
them as holy men for doing the work v/ith power 
as they had to do it, Christ spoke of power to the 
disciples, but it was the Spirit filling their whole 
being that worked the power. I wish to speak this 
morning upon the passage found in Gal. 5:22. 
" The fruit of the Spirit is love." We read that 
"Love is the fulfilling of the whole law," and my 
desire is to speak to you this morning on love as a 
fruit of the Spirit with a two fold object. One is 
that this word may be a searchlight in our hearts 
and give us a test by which to try all our thoughts 
about the Holy Spirit and all our experience of the 
holy life. Let us try ourselves by this word. Has 
this been your daily habit, to seek the being filled 
v/ith the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of love? "The 
fruit of the Spirit is love." Has it been your ex- 
perience that the more you have of the Holy Spirit 
the more loving you become? In claiming the Holy 
Spirit you should make this the first object of your 
expectation, the Holy Spirit comes as a Spirit of 



THK FRUIl" OF THE) SPIRIT IS I,OVK. 31 

love. Oh, if this were true in the church of Christ 
how different her state would be. May God help us 
this morning to just get hold of this simple heav- 
enly truth, that the fruit of the Spirit is a love 
which appears in the life, and that just as the Holy 
Spirit gets real possession of the life, the heart will 
be filled with real, Divine, universal love. To un- 
derstand this fully let us remember that God from 
whom the Spirit comes is love. Love is not a mere 
attribute of God, but God is love, and because this 
Holy Spirit comes as the Spirit of God, He comes 
as the Spirit of love. What does it mean that God 
is love? You have in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinth- 
ians the most perfect definition of love. "Love 
seeketh not its own." It goes out of itself and 
lives in its object, etc. Love longs to commend it- 
self to and bless the object of its love. Therefore 
it was an absolute necessity in the idea of a perfect 
God that He should have a Son to whom He could 
communicate Himself. We cannot conceive of God, 
who is love, alone. He must have a Son to v/hom He 
can communicate Himself and with whom we can 
have fellowship. So God is love. And in the ever- 
lasting intercourse of the Trinity the Spirit is the 
bond of fellowship between the Father and Son. 
The Holy Spirit is the overflov/ing and interchange 
of the love between Father and Son. He is the 
very life of Deity; if that Spirit comes to us He 
comes in no other way than as the Spirit of love. 
God is love not only to Christ, but in Christ God 
created the world that He might pour out His love 
upon it a.nd that He mig-lit give to all His creatures 



32 THK SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

just as much of His love as they each are capable of 
receiving". God is love. God created angels and 
men that they might enjoy fellowship with Him, 
His love permeating and filling- their whole being-. 
When man had fallen, when sin had darkened this 
love of God in man, what did He do? He gave His 
own Son to the death to restore it. To that fallen 
world God gave His Son in a new way, in the flesh 
to prove to man the povver of His love. And with 
His Son He gave His life, His joy. His glory, His 
holiness. His power. His blessedness; in Christ He 
gives it all. God is love, ever delighting to give 
and communicate Himself. Love is the essential 
nature of God; with the Holy Spirit coming from 
this God, must we not expect that He will fill us 
with love? Sin has robbed us of love. You know 
that God created man, male and fema.le, that they 
might live a life of love even as God lives in love, 
and they might be happy in love. Y7hen sin came 
it destroyed the love. You know how easily Adam 
put the blame upon his wife, how speedily Cain 
killed Abel, how soon the world became filled with 
wickedness; how true it is that since that time the 
world is full of divisions, and strife, of sin and un- 
righteousness. Love vanished from the world. 
There may have been beautiful examples of love 
even among the heathen but only as a little rem- 
nant of what has been lost. The worst thing sin 
ever did was, it made men selfish and selfishness 
cannot love. Selfishness can do something that is 
called love; it can lead me to love some one who 
pleases me or makes me happier, but that is not real 



THK FRUIT OF THK SPIRIT IS I.OVF. 33 

love. The true utiseliish love, that loves the un- 
worthy or unlovable, sin destroyed. To bring" this 
love back to us Jesus came. He came as the mani- 
festation of Divine love. We read before He went 
to be crucified, that having loved His own that were 
in the world He loved them unto the end. Christ's 
life with His disciples was one of love. His influ- 
ence was personal. His whole intercourse with 
them was one of love. In the 13th chapter of John 
you will remember Christ said unto them, ' ^ A new 
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one an- 
other." This commandment differed from all other 
commandments, and yet it contained them all. It 
was a new commandment Christ alone could give, 
because He had revealed a new love, and would 
give it in the heart by giving His Spirit there. I 
tell you, love one another. By this shall men know 
that ye are my disciples if you love one another. 
In the 15th chapter He says again, "This com- 
mandment have I given unto you that ye love one 
another." In the l7th chapter He prayed, "That 
they may be one as we are one, that the world may 
know Thou hast loved me and hast sent me and 
hast loved them as Thou hast loved me." The 
world is to know the love of God through Christ by 
our love to one another. So we are taught that the 
great mark of the believer is that he is to be a man 
of love. Dear friends, how little the world under- 
stands that; how little the church understands that; 
how little it is preached, or proved in practice, that 
love is actually the chief thing for every believer to 
set his heart upon. How little can believers say 



34 THK SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

before God, " Thou knowest I pray f or one thing", 
fill me with love; I study one thing, how can I be 
filled with love?" The Lord Jesus came to bring- 
love back to the world. He did so when He died 
on Calvary, it was the triumph and the revelation 
of love. And no^v He calls us to dwell and to walk 
in love. He demands that thoug-h a man hate you 
still you love him. True love cannot be conquered 
by anything- in heaven or upon the earth. The 
more hatred there is the more love triumphs throug-h 
it all and shows its true nature. This is the love 
that Christ commanded His disciples to exercise. 
John in his epistle says that Christ laid down His 
life for us, therefore we ought to lay down our life 
for the brethren. How little men understand that. 
Look at the disciples. How often there were dis- 
sensions among them; more than once they disputed 
as to who should be chief in the kingdom, there 
was pride because of their want of love. Love is 
humility. Love says, I only exist to be a blessing 
to others. Love cannot be selfish; it loves as Jesus 
loved. The disciples whom Christ had chosen had 
to be taught many things, but one chief object was 
to let us see what human nature is and how incap- 
able it is of the higher life, of love like Christ's, 
until the Holy Spirit comes. 

2. When Jesus Christ had revealed love on 
earth and had done the work of redeeming love, the 
Holy Spirit came from heaven to bring- His love 
down to our hearts. We ought to think of Pente- 
cost as it brought the very life and love of Jesus into 
the hearts of His disciples. So it wa'^. thnt Peter 



THK FRUIT OF THK SPIRIT IS I.OVE). 35 

could speak out of the very Spirit of Jesus. The 
disciples learned not only to love each other, but 
even their enemies. We talk of their boldness be- 
cause that comes out in contrast to their cowardice; 
it was the redeeming- love of Christ that came to 
take possession of them; which the Holy Spirit 
broug-ht down from heaven. In the second and 
the fourth chapters of Acts we read that they were 
of one heart and one soul. During- the three years 
they had walked with Christ they never had one 
heart and one soul. All Christ's teaching- could not 
make them of one heart and one soul. But the 
Holy Spirit comes from heaven and sheds the love 
of God in their hearts and they are of one heart and 
one soul. The same Holy Spirit that brought the 
love of heaven into their hearts must fill us too. 
Nothing less will do. Kven as Christ did, one 
mig-ht preach love for three years with the tongue 
of an angel, that would not teach any man to love 
unless the power of the Holy Spirit come upon him 
to bring- the love of heaven into his heart. If we 
wait upon the Holy Spirit and yield ourselves to 
Him He will fill us with the love of God. Look at 
this as we have it here in our text. It is in our 
daily life and conduct that the fruit of the Spirit is 
love; from that there comes all the graces and vir- 
tues in which love is manifested: joy, peace, long- 
suifering-, gentleness, g-oodness; no sharpness or 
hardness in your tone, no unkindness or selfishness; 
meekness before God and man. You see that all 
these are the gentler virtues. I have often thought 
as I read those words in Colosians, "Put on there- 



36 THK SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

fore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels 
of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, 
longsuffering," that if we had written, we should 
have put in the foreground the manly virtues, zeal, 
courag^e and diligence; but we need to see how the 
gentler, the most womanly, virtues are specially 
connected with dependence upon the Holy Spirit. 
These are indeed heavenly graces. They never 
were found in the heathen world. Christ was 
needed to come from heaven to teach us. Your 
blessedness is longsuffering, meekness, kindness; 
your glory is humility before God. The fruit of 
the Spirit, that He brought from heaven, out of the 
heart of the crucified Christ and that He gives in 
our heart, is first and foremost, love. 

Don't you see that if this is really true, our great 
desire in asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, our 
great study now that we are talking about, the fill- 
ing of the Spirit, and how to be filled v/ith power 
by the Spirit, our great aim and study must be to 
get hold of this thought, if we are to have the Holy 
Spirit we must give up ourselves, give up self to live 
the life of love. How sadly has this been v/anting? 
What shall I say about the divisions throughout the 
Church of Christ? How the most precious truths 
given by Christ to unite us have been made bar- 
riers of separation. Take the Lord's Supper. 
What terrible quarrels between Reformed Lutherans 
about the meaning of the simple words, "This is 
my body." What was meant as a bond of union is 
a badge of separation. Alas! how little the Divine 
beauty, the Divine supremacy of love has been seen. 



"THE) FRUIT OF THK SPIRIT IS lyOV:^. 2>7 

Our doctrines, our creeds have been more important 
than love. In these later times, even the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit is a cause of separation. Let us 
learn not to expect that everyone should think the 
same or express themselves in the same way; let 
our first care be to exercise love, g^entleness, kind- 
ness. We often think we are valiant for the truth, 
and we forg^et that God's v/ord commands us to 
speak the truth in love. How often one hears that 
even away out among- the heathen or mission 
stations there are too often divisions and coldness 
among- those who are working- for God. Because 
of differences of temperament or opinion, estrang-e- 
ments and jealousies come in and love waxes cold. 
What a sad thing in the church that earnest Christ- 
ians v/ho have given up all for Christ have never 
learned the mystery of love. Is it any different at 
home? Is there not often, in the circles where we 
meet tog-ether, in church councils, and committees, 
in missions and associations, a want of that love 
among" fellow-workers, which is the true mark of 
the presence of the Holy Ghost? Is there not often 
harsh judgment, evil-speaking, etc., all because the 
love of Christ has not been allowed to take com- 
plete possession. Is there not often even in the 
family the outburst of temper and haste? Alas! 
we have not learned to love, have not even learned 
to count love the chief fruit of the Spirit. We must 
learn to take this word as the true test of life in 
the Spirit. All our desire to be filled with the 
Spirit must center here, to have self sunk down in 
willingness and humility, and to have the love of 



38 THK SPIRITUAI. I,IFR. 

God and Jesus become the life of our life. I want 
to lead you to the life in which love is supreme, in 
which love shall bow you down in such deep hum- 
ility that g-o where you will and let man do what 
they will, you shall say, by the help of God I must 
love. Let us bring* our whole life to the looking-- 
glass of this word of God. Let us think of the 
church and Christians around us. When you have 
looked around well then look at yourself and say, 
"Oh God, I ask Thee so often to fill Thy church 
with the Holy Spirit. Have I been filled with the 
Spirit of love?" You know what John says, *'No 
man hath seen the Father at any time. If we love 
one another God dwells in us." That is, I cannot 
see God, but as a compensation I can see my brother 
and if I love him God dwells in me. Is that really 
true? That I cannot see God, but I must love my 
brother, and God will dwell in me. Loving my 
brother is the way to real fellowship with God. 
You know what John further says in that most 
solemn test, 1 John, 4:20, <'If a man says he loves 
God and hates his brother he is a liar; for he that 
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can 
he love God whom he hath not seen?" There is a 
brother, a most unlovable man. He worries you 
every time you meet him. He is of the very oppo- 
site disposition to yours. You are a careful business 
man and you have g"Ot to do with him in 3^our busi- 
ness. He is most untidy, unbusiness-like. You 
say I cannot love him. Oh friends, you have not 
learned the lesson that Christ v/anted to teach above 
everything". Let a man be what he will you are to 



THK FRUIIT OF TKlEj SPIRIT IS I^OVH. 39 

love him. Love is to be the fruit of the Spirit all 
the day and every day. Yes, listen, if a man loves 
not his brother whom he hath seen, if you don't 
love that unlovabley man whom you have seen, how 
can you love God whom you have not seen? You 
can deceive yourself with beautiful thoughts about 
loving- God. You must prove your love to God by 
your love to your brother; that is the one standard 
God will judge your love to Him by. If the love of 
God is in your heart you will love your brother. 
The fruit of the Spirit is love. The first thing you 
need, if you want to be filled with the Spirit, in any 
real, full sense of the word, you must not only have 
Himtakepossession of your will, but you must yield 
up your heart and life to be filled with the Spirit of 
love. 

Nothing can enable you to live such a life of love 
but the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The two texts 
are inseparably connected. "Be filled with the 
Spirit," "The fruit of the Spirit is love." If a man 
wants to have the fruit of an apple tree he must 
plant the apple tree. You must have the tree if 
you want the fruit. If you want to be filled with 
the love of God you must be filled with the Spirit. 
You must come with the humble confession of hov/ 
little you have loved, or even desired to be full of 
love. You have sought for the power of the Holy 
Spirit in your work in pride and selfishness You 
have not given up yourself to Him to be filled, 
first of all, with love, with gentleness and humility 
and meekness. Oh! come and make confession, and 
let Christ cleanse you from the selfishness and pride 



40 THK SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

and unloving"ness. Seek to be filled with the Spirit 
for a daily life of humility and love, and the power 
of the Spirit for service will come. 

Brother, do you want to be filled with the Spirit 
of God? Is it true? Do you really want to be filled 
with love that you may be the humblest, gentlest 
of men, so that everyone may know that you are a 
disciple by the love you have? Brethren, if we love 
one another God dwelleth in us and we in God, and 
then we can be perfected in love. Is that an attain- 
ment of ours? It is a gift, a bestowment of the 
Holy Spirit. I hope, in the evening-, to speak 
about the hindrances to this life, how it comes that 
this life in the Spirit, this love of the Spirit, walk- 
ing after the Spirit, made free by the Spirit, in- 
dwelt by the Spirit, having the witness of the 
Spirit, what it is that hinders these in our life. 
How it is that Christ has given the Spirit, that the 
Spirit is in the church, and her life is so feeble. 
But, meantime; let us first in confession ask God to 
forgive us our shortcomings; let us in prayer and 
faith yield ourselves and let God fill us with the Spirit 
of love. Let us even now absolutely and entirely 
give ourselves to be just vessels filled with the love 
of God. Let us even now say to God that we accept 
the lesson, that the Spirit comes to fill us with the 
love of heaven, with a love that makes loving 
others the one joy of our life; that we yield our- 
selves to it, and that by His grace we will make 
this our one object and desire. Ma}' God write it 
in our hearts. The Holy Spirit's fruit and chief 
work is to give Christ and the love of God in us for 
our every day life. B}^ His grace we can live lives 
of unceasing love. 



I^HK se:i.f-i,ife^. 41 



trbe SclMitc—Ubc t)in5tance to tbe 
Spiritual Xite^ 



Let me begfin, for tlie sake of any who are here 
for the first time, bj saying- a word about what we 
are doing" and where we are. 

These meetings are not simply for the discussion 
or exposition of scriptural truth, but have all a very 
definite, practical object. Their starting point is 
very simple. Many Christians feel that their life 
is not right. They long to have their life put 
right, and ask the question, ^'Is it possible to live 
as God would have us do?" We desire to come and 
show them exactly what it is that is wrong, and ex- 
actly what it is that God is willing and able to do 
for them, and then to bring them to take the step 
by which they pass out of the wrong state into the 
life that is well pleasing to God. This is our work, 
and I do pray you in great love, every one, to set 
aside any tendency to come and merely to listen to 
the exposition of truth. We have such a terrible 
habit of going to church to listen and to learn and 
to think, while the heart often remains untouched, 



42 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

that we get into the habit of listening- to the most 
solemn things without any practical result. Let us 
try and come into God's presence tonig-ht, and in His 
presence to say, "If there is anything- wrong about 
me I pray God to set it right." Let there be in our 
hearts a hungering after righteousness. 

We began yesterday morning by looking at the 
two sides of the Christian life, the carnal, fleshly 
side, in which a believer is continually sinning, and 
then at the spiritual side in which the Holy Spirit 
helps a man to conquer and makes a man really a 
spiritual man. Yesterday evening we went on to 
look at the spiritual side and we found in Romans 
eight the description of what the Holy Spirit will 
do for a believer who gives way to Him. The Holy 
Spirit will make him a free man, free from the law 
of sin and death. The Holy Spirit will dwell in 
him, will lead him and teach him to walk after Him 
as his guide. The Holy Spirit will come into him 
as a Divine life power to mortify and make dead the 
deeds of the body, and the Holy Spirit will come 
into him to bear a definite, heavenly, living witness 
that He is in him. This morning we went further. 
How will such a life look when a man has to act it 
out in his daily walk, and we took one word as the 
standard God gives: "The fruit of the Spirit is 
love." We said if the Holy Spirit comes and fills a 
man, the man will live a life full of love amid all 
difficulties and trials and temptations. 

And now this evening comes the question' if that 
be true, if the Holy Spirit will set me free from the 
law of sin and death; if the Holy Spirit will mortify 



^un SKLF-I,IFK- 43 

the deeds of the body, why is it that I do not live 
that life? If love be the fruit of the Holy Spirit 
and I have the Holy Spirit g-iven me in conversion, 
why is it I do not live such a life of perfect love, and 
that so few live it?' There must be some terrible 
hindrance. And so there is. The hindrance is 
just one word, one little word of four letters, 
"s=e-l-f." The life of God and the life of Christ 
and the life of the Holy Spirit are all waiting- to 
come into you. But on one condition: you must 
lose your own life. Give it up and God will g^ive 
you the new life. But if you allow self to live in 
you and have its way even partially, it hinders the 
work of the Holy Spirit and thoug-h you have the 
Holy Spirit in you as a child of God He cannot do 
His work in power. 

Now I want to tell you how you can g-et rid of 
this hindrance. My text is Matt 16:24. ''Then 
said Jesus unto His disciples, if any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross 
and follow me." What must he do? He must deny 
himself; he must deny self. If a man wants to be 
my disciple he must deny himself and he must take 
up his cross and follow me. We all, by nature, fol- 
low self. Kvery man does it. It is natural. Christ 
says we must give up self, must forever give up list- 
ening- to self, and listen to Him alone. Take Him 
in the place of self, give up the life of self and take 
Him to be your life. Let us try and understand the 
connection in which this wonderful word comes to 
us. You remem^ber how in Caesarea Philippi, Christ 
asked His disciples, "Whom do men say that I, the 



44 THK SPIRII^UAI, I^IFI^. 

son of man, am?" They g"ave Him the different 
answers that men were g-iving-, and He then said, 
*'But whom say ye that I am?" Peter answered for 
the rest, ' ' Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living- 
God." And listen to what Christ said, *' Blessed 
art thou, Simon Barjona, because thou knowest 
this. Thou art blessed because thou knowest that 
I am the Son of God. " And what more does He 
say? "Flesh and blood has not revealed this unto 
you but my Father which is in heaven. "God, my 
Father has been teaching- you by His Holy Spirit 
and you have learned that I am the Son of God. 
The disciples did not learn it in their catechism in 
those days; their mothers did not teach it to them; 
Christ, Himself, did not say in so many words, 
" Now remember, I am the Son of God." But He 
lived as the Son of God, and God taught them to 
know Him as Christ. Then Christ g-oes on and 
says those two wonderful thing's. "Upon this rock 
will I build m.j church," and "I will g-ive unto thee 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Think of 
those four thing's spoken to Peter. "Blessed art 
thou, Simon Barjona," "The Father Himself hath 
revealed it to thee," "On this rock I will build My 
church," and "I will g-ive unto thee the ke3^s of the 
kingdom of heaven. " And now what comes ? Peter 
is up in the heights. Peter has learned a great heav- 
enly lesson. And what comes now? Christ begins to 
tell them, ' ' You must know what must come. They 
are going to take me and kill me. I will have to be 
crucified but the third day I will rise again." 
Peter said, "God forbid. Far be that from Thee." 



In the marg-in it is properly translated ' ' Pity thy- 
self." Peter says, "Have mercy upon thyself. 
Why dost thou speak thus, Lord? Pity thyself. 
That shall never be." But Christ says, "Get thee 
behind me, Satan." It is such a hellish thing- tha.t 
you have said, it is Satan that has taug-ht you, " 
will you learn a lesson now? The same man who 
an hour ag-o had been saying- things that God had 
taug-ht him beg-an to say thing's that the Devil had 
taug-ht him. What a wonderful thing* is a con- 
verted but unsatisfied man; he has the Spirit of God 
in him but he has a deal of the Devil in him, too. 
Then Christ says, after having- spoken about Plis 
own cross and His own death, "If any man will 
come after me, let him take up his cross." That 
means ' ' Peter, it is not only I that have g-ot to die, 
but you, too. Not only I must be crucified, but you 
must take up your cross. Peter, you are frig-htened 
at the thoug-ht that I am g"oing- to be crucified, but 
you have to be crucified, too." Poor Peter. "If a 
man wants to be my disciple he must deny himself 
and must take up his cross and he must follow me." 
What a come down for Peter. Peter was up in the 
heavens. Peter was living in the higher life, re- 
joicing in that wonderful word, that Christ calls 
him a blessed man because he knew that He was 
the Son of God. And why this come down? Just 
because Peter has not given up all his thoughts to 
the teaching of God and the Holy Spirit. Peter 
knows a great deal about Christ and his kingdom 
of glory but he does not believe in His crucifixion. 
There are so many Christians who believe in a 



46 THE) SPIRITUAI, I,IFE. 

thousand wonderful and beautiful thing's about 
Christ but they do not believe the chief thing- of 
all, that of taking- their cross and being- crucified 
with Jesus. Listen, this word of Jesus teaches us, 
as well as Peter, what it is that hinders us from 
understanding- Him and enjoying- Him, and He 
teaches us how to g-et rid of this trouble. 

I want to speak to you this evening- about self. 
Let me ask these questions. 

1. Where does it come from, this self that has 
got to be denied and crucified? 

2. What are its works? 

3. How can it be conquered? 

4. What have I g-ot to do? 

In the first place what is this self? Christ says: 
deny self. What does that mean? Peter, instead 
of denying* self, denied Jesus. When Christ was 
being led before Caiphas, three times he said, "I 
do not know the man. I have nothing to do with 
Him." And he said that with an oath. If any 
man were to say to you, "You have stolen my 
watch," you would be indignant and would deny 
the charge. Kven so Peter denied Jesus. Jesus 
had told him to do just the opposite. "Peter, there 
is one thing you must deny and that is your own 
self, your own life, your own will." But where did 
I get that self from? Did not God create that self 
in me? Of course He did. Kvery man and angel 
has got a self that comes from God's hands. God 
gave me a self -determining power by which I can 
say what I want to do with myself, and what for? 
That every day I may come to God and bring my- 



THK SKI.F-I,IFK. 47 

self for him to fill, and find my blessedness in wait- 
ing- upon Him and receiving- of His fullness. But 
what a ruin sin has wroug-ht. Listen for a moment 
while I speak to you of something- that was before 
ever man came on this world. The throne of God 
was surrounded by brig-ht spirits, all pure and per- 
fect. One of the brig-htest of these pure spirits 
beg-an to look at himself and wonder at all the 
beauty and g'lory God had g-iven him. He admired 
himself and pride came into his heart and he began 
to say, *'I am as God." He turned his desire from 
God to self; he thoug-ht, "It is not rig-ht that I 
should be subject to this God." And he lifted up 
himself and said, "I, the morning- star, the prince 
of light, am I not the chief among the powers of 
heaven?" He turned away from God to self and 
pride entered his heart, and he fell out of light 
into darkness, and was changed from an angel into 
a devil, from the brightness of heaven into the 
blackness and outer darkness of everlasting hell. 
That is what pride, that is what self did for that 
angel. Instead of turning to God he turned to 
himself and he fell. Then God, to restore all this 
glory, created man that in man His own Son might 
show forth His glory. He said to man, "I have 
given you a self, but let that self always turn to 
me and you shall always stand in the light. Do 
my will and I will fill you with life and blessing 
everlasting. But alas, the Devil came to man be- 
cause he hated him as he thought of what man 
might become as the king of the world. He came 
to Kve and said, "If you eat of that fruit you will 



48 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

be like God." He not only spoke these words, but 
"in and with these words he breathed into her ear 
and heart the very poison of hell, . his own hellish 
pride. He said to her, "You can be like God, go 
and eat of that tree." Alas, she and Adam barkened 
and the very poison of hell entered into their blood 
and that self that lifted itself against God, and 
turned away from Him, became their nature. And 
so you and I, who are born of that Adam and Kve, 
we have in us a self that exalts itself against God. 
We know too little what an evil nature we have 
within. We have an evil nature that exalts itself 
against God and over our fellowmen. The whole 
history of the human race is nothing but one great 
struggle, man against man, each trying to exalt 
himself higher than the other. One wants more 
power, another more learning, another more cul- 
ture, another more pleasure than anyone else 
around. Alas! Self is the God that rules the 
world. There is not one exception. Oh, if we were 
but conscious that we have this evil self within us 
how we would cry, "Deliver me from this monster, 
O, my God." If there were to come creeping along 
here a poisonous snake and making straight for 
some one, how we would jump away and say, "Kill 
that beast, deliver me from its poison." But alas, 
we are blind and run into our danger. A little 
child has sometimes been known to play with a 
snake. I know a home in South Africa, where the 
mother was away at church and had left a colored 
girl in charge of her little baby just learning to 
creep and a sister a few years old. The baby was 



1"HK SKlvF-I^IFK- 49 

playing- on the floor. A beautifully colored but 
poisonous snake came into the room and lifting- its 
head made ready to strike. The little child, all un- 
conscious of its dang-er, crept along- toward what 
looked so beautiful. As the snake was looking- at 
it, -just ready to strike, the colored g-irl rushed from 
behind and seized the child. The child wished to 
play with that beautifully colored snake. It knew 
not of the poison. We have within us a self that 
has its poison from Satan, that has its poison from 
hell and yet we cherish and nourish it. What do 
we not do to please self and nourish self, and we 
make the devil within us strong-. This is 
the reason why Christ calls us entirely to 
deny self. To deny self means that you 
must have nothing- to do with him. If you did not 
steal that watch you must deny it, you reject with 
indig-nation the charg-e, the statement, that you 
stole it. So you must reject self. You ask why. 
Christ says you must take a cross and nail self to 
the cross. You ask why. Ah, you will never do 
what Christ says until you see the satanic orig-in of 
self, as a horrible rebellion ag-ainst God. That is 
its orig-in, it comes out of hell and drag's us back 
to hell. 

2. Now look at its works. Look in your own 
life. What are the works of self? They are 
chiefly these three. Self-will, self-trust and self- 
exaltation. First let us look at self-will. God 
created me with a will, and there is nothing- in man 
more noble than a will. Sometimes people speak 
about having- a broken will or too strong- a will. If 



50 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

my will was ten times as strong as it is, it would 
not be too strong if it is given up to God. It is 
the great power with which a man can serve God. 
If it is not given up to God then the Devil has 
power to move it and self leads that will continually 
to sin against God. Self-will rules in the life of 
every natural man. He says, "I do what I like 
and I have a right to do what I like." But I find 
among Christians that there are hundreds, who, if 
you ask, "Did ever you understand that when you 
became a Christian it was on the condition that you 
promise never to seek j^our own will?" They will 
all tell you they never understood that. But that 
is just what Christ demands. You are to do noth- 
ing but what God wills. You are to give up your 
will; self is to have no say in your life. That is 
the whole secret of salvation, to give up your will, 
your self, to God. His will is the manifestation of 
what is in His heart, and if I take my will like an 
empty cup and say, "Fill my will with Thy will," 
then I live a blessed life. Manv sav, "I think I am 
a Christian and I must of course do the will of God 
in important things, but in the little things I can- 
not help following my own will." No. Self is the 
cause of all our sin against God, and all our wretch- 
edness. Self-pleasing is another of the works of 
self. The whole life of man and nature has the 
pleasing of self as its moving principle. And even 
Christians seek far more to please themselves than 
to please God. No wonder that self becomes 
strong and that for its sake we sin unceasinglj- 
against the law of love to God and man. 



Another work of self is self-confidence. I do not 
know a more remarkable example than Peter. 
Christ said to Peter, '* Before the cock shall crow, 
thou shalt deny me thrice/' Peter said, "They 
may all forsake Thee but I will never leave Thee," 
and yet he denied Christ with an oath. How did 
that come? Simply from self-confidence. Peter 
could not believe of himself that he would deny his 
Lord. He said, "Thou knowest Lord that I love 
Thee. I have stood so much persecution for Thy 
sake. I will never deny Thee. I will go to the 
death with Thee." What was that but self-confi- 
dence? He trusted in himself and he fell. A 
young" person often says, "Six months ago I gave 
myself to the Lord and I had such a bright and 
happy time serving Jesus, but some way or other I 
got cold and went back and what is the reason?" 
My answer always is, '*Only one thing, you trusted 
yourself." He says, "No, I certainly did not. I 
felt that I was a poor feeble creature and could do 
nothing. I did not trust myself." Ah, but my 
friend you did. If you had trusted Christ, He never 
could have let you fall. You trusted in yourself. 
You trusted in your earnestness, in your integrity 
or something in yourself, and then came all the 
trouble. Just so with many of you who tell me, "I 
cannot live the life I want to live." Here is the 
simple reason. You have been trusting self, trust- 
ing to be able by mere effort and mere watchfulness 
to gain the victory. If you trusted Christ you 
would not fall. You have not given up self to the 
death, to trust in God alone. Does not your heart 



52 THE) SPIRITUAL, I,IFE. 

begin to say, ^' God have mercy upon me and deliver 
me from self. If it has been self that has been 
tempting" me to look away from Jesus, that has been 
coming- between Jesus and myself, oh God deliver 
me." 

The third form of self is self-exaltation, pride. 
Jesus said, *'How can ye believe, who 
take honor one from another." I am 
not speaking now of the people of the world. All 
the wretched history of the world is owing to 
pride. But I am speaking about Christians. How 
much of touchiness there is about our position. If 
a man does not give me the honor I think I ought 
to have; if he puts me down to a lower place than I 
expect, how sensitive I am. How much envy and 
jealousy there is. V/here does this come from? 
Self-exaltation. I ask you believers, do not you 
know what it is to have a heart in which there is 
constantly coming in the thought, " There I was 
clever. I knew how to manage those folks. There 
I made a beautiful prayer, " How often those things 
are entertained and allowed free passage for a time. 
How often in the presence of God we exalt our- 
selves, A man can be proud about a very small 
matter. He can be proud of a fine head of hair, a 
fine suit of clothes, his learning or money. There 
is nothing on earth that a man cannot be proud 
about. A man may ride on a very fine horse and 
be proud about that. The beast does not make the 
man a bit better and yet he is proud about it. That 
is just the way the Devil befools a man. This ac- 
cursed self from hell is at the root of all this. A 



I^HK SKLF-I,IFK- S3 

seeking- of our own honor. God's word says, God 
resistetli the proud. Self as seen has corrupted it, and 
is in its very nature proud and can be nothing- else, 
therefore Christ says, deny self. Does not your 
heart beg-in to cry, * ' How can I g-et free from self 
and sin?" 

3. How can it be conquered? Christ tells us: 
' ' Let a man deny himself and take up his cross and 
follow me." He puts the three words tog-ether, but 
they all amount to the same thing. The first is, let 
him deny himself. Let him say, "I have nothing- 
to do with self. I will not listen to it. I will ig-- 
nore it." That is what Peter said when he denied 
Christ, " I do not want to be connected with Christ 
or have anything- to do with Him. " So we must 
say to self, "I have nothing- to do with it." Then 
Christ says, "Take up the cross." The cross al- 
ways means death. Christ could not explain that 
to them further. They would not have understood 
Him. But Christ meant, ' ' Just as I have g-ot to 
g-ive up my life and be crucified, you will have to be 
crucified spiritually." And that is what Paul says, 
' ' I am crucified with Christ. No longer I but Christ 
liveth in me." ^'And follow me." Oh, that 
blessed word. It must be instead of myself^ Jesus, 
Himself. Follow me. Here is a choice you have 
to make between these two. Shall I follow self or 
follow Jesus? Please self or please Jesus? Deny 
self or deny Jesus? Remember that solemn lesson 
of Peter. He would not deny self and what did he 
come to? He denied Jesus. If you do not deny self 
utterly you will be denying- Jesus every day. You 



54 THE SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

will tell the world, "I have nothing- to do with Je- 
sus just now, I am pleasing myself." Now Christ- 
ian, come tonight and make the wonderful exchange. 
Come and begin to understand what a blessed thing 
it would be instead of self to follow Jesus. Peter 
did follow Jesus, though with many failures, and 
where did Christ take him? He took him to that 
place where he denied his Lord that he might learn 
to know himself thoroughly. He took him to Geth- 
semane to show him how little he could watch for 
one hour; then to the cross to show him how little 
he could suffer with him. Then He took him to 
the resurrection and showed Himself as the living 
Christ, who breathed His Spirit into him; then He 
took him to the ascension mount and said, **I am 
going to heaven and the Spirit and the fire will 
come. '* He led him to the place where he received 
the fullness of the Holy Spirit and then and not 
until then was self dethroned. How is the reign of 
self to be cast out? How am I to be delivered from 
this secret povv^er that I cannot see or root out? 
Christ says, "Deny self, take up your cross and fol- 
low me." Deny self. Take up the cross and say, 
**I desire to be crucified with Christ; I desire to be 
made conformable to His death," then follow Christ 
with your whole heart. Christ will come in and 
rule. You know the story of the strong man who 
kept his house until a stronger came and cast him 
out. • But the stronger one did not stay to dwell. 
The house was cleansed and garnished but empty. 
After a time the evil spirit with seven others came 
in and dwelt there. It is not enough to cast out 



¥h:^ si5i<]?-i.iFi). 55 

self; it will not help you unless He comes in; Christ 
the stronger must come in and dwell there, and 
then He keeps the house in safety. Let us all deny 
that cursed self; take up the cross and follow Him. 
He will take us to the place of safety and victory. 
4. And now comes a few words as to what we 
must do. Can a man in one moment deny self and 
be freed from it, or is it the work of a lifetime. 
Both. You can tonig-ht, if God gives you a sight 
of the accursedness of self and what self has really 
been doing all the years of your Christian life, in 
one step take your place in the position of a man 
who utterly denies self, and give yourself to be 
possessed by Jesus. You can do that in one minute. 
Many do not do this because they are not ready. 
They are not willing to confess they have no true 
insight; that self is the only cause of their sin. 
But I ask you what else can be the cause of all 
these sins that have made you unhappy? temper, 
pride, wilfulness, worldliness, self-pleasing. It is 
nothing but self. Are you going to confess that 
tonight? My life might have been full of the Holy 
Ghost and full of Jesus, full of humility and full of 
God. But, alas, what has my life been, and all 
through that cursed evil root of self. I did not 
know how bad it was and how it was running my 
whole Christian life. If I could tear it out of my 
life and kill it, I would do it if it cost me blood. 
You cannot do that. But you can do something 
that is better. You can come and quietly condemn 
it at the feet of Jesus as an accursed thing. You 
can cast it down there and sa}^ "Son of God, I fol- 



56 Th:^ SPIRITUAI. I,IFE. 

low Thee with my whole heart to the very utter- 
most. I desire to follow Thee to the very depths 
of death. I desire to give myself up utterly and 
Yv^holly to Thee. I desire to take Him and let Him 
fill my whole being". " Believer, Christ can do it. 
I know I am speaking* in vain if there is any one 
here who is pretty well contented with himself. 
Any one who says, *'I am an earnest Christian, I 
am doing- my best. I am not what I oug-ht to be; 
but I do fairly." If there is any one here who 
thinks thus, I have not much hope of his taking- 
this step. But if there is one who says, *'I feel 
sinful, I feel wretched, I cannot live this life any 
long-er. I have denied my Lord Jesus too often al- 
ready by many thing-s I have done; but now no 
longer. I have tried hard but have failed. I now 
see the root of it all. Self has been seeking- to 
conquer its own evil works, and has only been 
strengthened all the time. Come my beloved and 
bring self and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Cast it 
into His very bosom and believe tonight that the 
Son of God is coming into you to be a new self, to 
be your very life, because He will live in you by His 
Holy Spirit. Paul says, *'It is no longer I but 
Christ that liveth in me." You may not be able to 
explain it, but just take the words of Paul, "I live 
no longer but Christ liveth in me. " It is no longer 
the old I, the old self, it is Christ. Oh that God 
might give us a sight of what that means. And 
may God give us grace to take the step. Nothing 
else can give us peace or make us holy. Lord Jesus! 
come in. Shall we say this? Are you willing that 



'THK ski.f-i,ife:. 57 

God search you tonig-ht? Come then, bow your 
heads and begin by telling- God so. And then let 
God shine into your hearts and let Him show you 
what a cursed thing- this self has been in your life. 
Let us bow before God. 



58 THE SPIRITUAL LlFt. 



tTbe Ibolp Spirit in lEpbesians. 



We are speaking", in these lectures, of the spirit- 
ual life. I told jou on Tuesday morning- that it is 
a great thing- when a man g-ets a vison of what the 
spiritual life is, and of the fact that it is for ///;;/. 
On Tuesday evening- and yesterday morning I 
spoke of the two aspects of that life — the one, the 
mere doctrinal, from the eighth chapter of Ro- 
mans; and the other, the practical, from the words, 
"The fruit of the Spirit is love." 

I wish this morning to keep that same thought 
before us; because I believe, the more deeply we 
come to understand that God means us to live the 
life of the Holy Spirit the more clearly we see 
that scripture points to the provision God has made 
by which ever}^ action of the redeemed life may be 
through the Holy Spirit, the more convinced we 
shall be that God will give us this life, a.nd the 
more ready we shall be to sacrifice all to enter into 
it. I think it may help us to take a little Bible 
reading on this subject this morning, from one of 
the epistles, and just look at the place that the Holy 
Spirit takes in the Christian life as exhibited in it. 

1 . Turn to the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 1, 



^HE) HOtY SPIRIT IN KPHESIANS. 59 

and the 13th verse. ''In whom, after that ye be- 
lieved, (that is, in Christ) ye were sealed with the 
Holy Spirit of promise." We have here first of all 
the sealing of the Holy Spirit. 

*' Believing-, you were sealed." Just look at the 
three thousand on the day of Pentecost. They be- 
lieved and were baptized and received the Holy 
Ghost, and they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of 
promise. Now, you know what a seal is. The sealing- 
of a letter or document is for safety and confirma- 
tion. God g-ives to His child at conversion, the 
Holy Spirit as a seal, which is the mark of God, set 
upon him that he may know that he is God's re- 
deemed child. That seal is not a dead one, but is 
the living- Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of promise. 
The Holy Spirit seals me as an earnest of my in- 
heritance, as a spirit of promise; and when that 
Spirit seals me I am to trust and hope for all God 
is going- to do. 

If I am to live a healthy Christian life I must 
carry the living- seal of the living- Spirit of God in 
my life every moment. I must pray to God for this 
living- heaven-born consciousness of being- the child 
of God to be so clear that every moment I can re- 
alize it. The father of a family, a workman, a sol- 
dier, a sailor, every man, carries about with him 
the consciousness of what he is. Just so the Holy 
Spirit will so enable a man to realize, I am sealed 
with the Holy Spirit from heaven, that He will 
feel, I cannot do anything inconsistent with my 
position and nature. The Holy Spirit reminds me 
I am God's dear child. 



60 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE). 

2. The second passage you find at the 17tli 
verse: '*I cease not to give thanks for you, making 
mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give 
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
knowledge of Him; the eyes of your understanding 
being enlightened." Here we have the Spirit of 
illumi?iatio7t^ of Divine enlightenment. After hav- 
ing brought them to see that they were sealed with 
the Holy Spirit, Paul prays for them, "Father, give 
them the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and en- 
lighten the eyes of their hearts. " He pra^'s for them 
because he wants them to know the height of their 
calling and the glory of their inheritance and the 
power of Christ working in them. God has pre- 
pared for us in Christ just wonderful riches. Our 
calling is to be holy, to live like God,s sons. Our 
heritage is rich and precious. The power that 
works in us is the resurrection power of Christ by 
which God raised Him and set Him at His right 
hand. That mighty power is working in us human 
beings. We do not know these things from day to 
day because we do not continue waiting and asking 
for, and yielding to the Spirit of illumination. He 
would give us to see what is prepared for us every 
day in Christ Jesus. 

This week we speak about the Holy Spirit and 
next week about the Lord Jesus, showing how the 
Spirit leads to Christ and out of Christ the Spirit 
comes ever more abundantly. Paul prays that the 
Spirit might reveal Christ fully to them, and that 
they might know what they have in Christ. I can 



I'HE HOI.Y SPIRIT IN KPHKSIANS. 61 

not read my Bible, I cannot lead a Christian life, 
unless I have the Ploly Spirit as the spirit of en- 
lightenment. It is not a speci?J things but just for 
the ordinary Christian life. The eyes of my heart 
are darkened hj sin; every day I must have them 
illuminated by the Holy Ghost. And this I must 
pray for; it comes in answer to humble prayer, wait- 
ing- upon God. 

3. In the 2nd chapter we have, in the 18th verse, 
"Through whom (Christ) we have access by one 
Spirit unto the Father." This is the Spirit of zuor- 
ship whereby we are broug-ht nigh to God through 
Jesus by one Spirit. I need the Spirit if I want to 
pray, I need Him to worship. As a< little child I 
used to say every day to my father, "Good 
morning." Kvery morning I need to enter into 
God's presence and cry "Abba Father," and dwell 
near to God. How can I do it? Through Christ, 
by the Holy Spirit. Many people speak of drawing 
nigh to God through the blood and through Christ. 
We cannot praise God too much for Christ and the 
blood, but that is not all, there are many who don't 
know what it means to draw nigh through the 
Holy Spirit. Where a heart is filled with the Holy 
Spirit, there the access and abiding in God's pres- 
ence is no longer an effort, but the natural spontan- 
eous breathing of the Spirit. A man cannot live a 
true Christian life unless he has the Holy Spirit 
living in him every moment. He must know, and 
be conscious that by the Spirit he has access through 
Christ unto the Father. 

4. Our next step is the Spirit of fellozvship. 



62 THE SPIRITUAI, I,IFK. 

Chap. 2:22. "In whom ye also are builded tog-ether 
for an habitation of God through the Spirit." That 
is to say, that each one of you is not to be built up 
separate from the others, but you are all built up 
tog^ether, into an habitation of God, so many living 
stones all making up the one building. You could 
not have this building in which we meet if all the 
stones v/ere not put upon each other and united and 
cemented into one solid body; this makes the house 
fit to live in. Just so, if the church of Christ is to 
be what God wants, it is to be His habitation. He 
is to dwell in the body, but how? We are so self- 
ish, unloving; we have so little union with each 
other. How am I to have a large heart for every 
member of the body? The Holy Spirit will do it. 
If I get filled with the Holy Spirit I will love every 
brother and sister, and will glory in the body of 
Christ. Do you not feel that here the great mis- 
chief in our Christian life lies. We do not know 
the Holy Ghost and all He is going to do for us. 
We do not know that it is impossible for us to live 
a full Christian life unless we allow the Holy Spirit 
to do all His v/ork in us; unless we accept all His 
blessed workings. Let us ask God to show us how 
indispensable it is that the Holy Ghost should 
triumph in us individually and collectively if we are 
to answer God's purpose. 

5. In the 3rd chapter, 5tli verse: "The mystery 
of Christ, which in other ages was not made known 
unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His 
holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." There 
you have the Spirit of inspiration. The Holy 



the; HOI.Y SPIRIT IN KPHKSIANS. 63 

Spirit reveals to the apostles and prophets hidden 

divine things. In the first chapter it was the Spirit 

of illumination, teaching- every individual what he 

has in Christ and what Christ can do for him. Here 

it is the Spirit of our practice to whom we ov/e the 

Holy Scripture, and the knowledg-e of the mysteries 

of God they give. The thoughts of God's heart 

are large; through the Holy Spirit He reveals to 

His servants the prospects of God's kingdom and 

enriches our hearts with wonderful thoughts of the 

glory of God. Look at what He says in the 9th 

and 10th verses: "To make all men see what is the 

fellowship of the mystery, which from the begin 

ning of the Vv^orld hath been hid in God, who created 

all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now 

unto the principalities and powers in heavenly 

places might be known by the church the manifold 

wisdom of God." God is working out a wonderful 

purpose here in the v/orld. If I come to some great 

manufacturing business, and they take me about 

and show me all the wonderful machinery they have, 

I exclaim: " What power God has given to man! 

What a wonderful endov/ment the mind of man is!" 

But now, to think that the Everlasting God is 

working out a plan "to the intent that now unto 

the principalities and powers in the heavenly pla^ces 

might be made known by the church, the manifold 
wisdom of God," Let us ask for the Spirit that 
inspired the Bible to reveal to us the wonderful 
glory of the mystery of God. We have the Bible, 
but v/e do not understand it, unless the Holy Spirit, 
as our Spirit of inspiration, teach us to enter into 
God's blessed plan. 



64 THK SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

6. Verses 14-16, same chapter, another prayer of 
Paul, shows us the Spirit as a Spirit of strength^ 
This is a wonderful prayer. In the first prayer it 
was for lights that you mig'ht knozv what you have 
^ot in Christ; here, for strength^ that you may re- 
ceive and have Christ in you. In the first chapter 
it was a prayer for revelation, here it is a prayer 
for possession; that the Holy Spirit mig-ht strength- 
en and Christ dwell in you by faith and fill you 
unto all the fullness of God. Paul prayed to God 
for the Spirit of streng-thening-. That is the Spirit 
we need to have every day. I pray God to make it 
clear to us. If you only saw it fully, that God does 
not mean a child of His to live one moment without 
the Holy Spirit you would see how impossible it is 
to live rightly one moment without His unceasing" 
operation. Yet how can God do it if I do not pray, 
do not long- for it, to have Christ dv/elling- in the 
heart; and how can I be filled unto the fullness of 
God unless I believe a precious promise as to what 
God will do by the Spirit, like this. Plead for it, 
claim it, give yourself up to it. 

Dear friends, I pray you take this blessed Epistle 
alone and pray over it step by step, and mark down 
all of these blessings. We have heard in the three 
chapters of the sealing, illumination, worship fel- 
lowship, inspiration, and strengthening* of the 
Spirit leading up to the fullness of God. But is 
that really the life I am going- to live? was this 
Bible written to engage or please our intellect? 
Was it made that ministers might have work to do, 
and subjects to preach sermons on? No! This 



THE HOI.Y SPIRIT IN :e;phksians. 65 

Bible was written, this Kpistle was written, that 
yoti, by the Holy Spirit, might live every day ac- 
cording- to it. It means nothing* unless it means 
that. Let us try to find out what God says about 
the Holy Spirit, with the resolve, I am going- to 
claim it all; the Holy Spirit is going to live in me 
and make it a reality 

In studying the Kpistle you will notice that it 
consists of two parts. The first three chapters set 
forth the heavenly life of the believer in Christ, you 
you will find nothing directly practical there. It 
begins, ** Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless- 
ings in heavenly places in Christ;" these are then 
described in chapter one. Then Paul prays that 
God would reveal it. "God hath quickened you," 
"You are His workmanship." In chapter two and 
three it is the heavenly life of the Christian, ending 
with prayer and worship. The three last chapters 
are -just the opposite. They lead from heaven to 
earth. The heavenly man has got to live here on 
earth, in the world; and in the 4th, 5th, and 6th 
chapters you get the most simple, practical, every- 
day applications to the daily life you can find. 
These heavenly things in connection with the Holy 
Spirit, His divine seal, divine illumination, divine 
access to God, divine fellowship bringing us into 
God's temple, divine inspiration of God's servants, 
divine strengthening in the inner man — these are 
all spiritual hidden blessings. 

Now, let us see what we g-et in the second part of 
the Kpistle, 



66 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

1. There you have, in the fourth chapter, the 
Spirit of love. We read in the third verse, "En- 
deavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond 
of peace." In going back to the first two verses, 
you see how necessary it is to have the Spirit of 
love and humility as the first graces of the Christ- 
ian life. Paul knew that there is no want so pre- 
valent among men as the want of humility and of 
love; and so, from the heavenly heights of the pre- 
vious chapters, he comes down and says, "Walk 
worthy of your calling as Christians, by being very 
humble, and being very loving; bear with one an- 
other, and do your utmost to keep the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace. How much — as I have 
had occasion to say before — how much there is 
among Christians of want of love, of want of hu- 
milit}^; how much there is we can find in our own 
heart of temper, of pride, of hatred, unkindness, 
just coming out of that cursed flesh! "Keep the 
unity of the Spirit." But am I not under the power 
of the flesh? Am I not without the strength to 
keep the unity of the Spirit? The flesh cannot do 
the Spirit's work. I am to keep the unity of the 
Spirit by j^elding to the Spirit. We read in chap- 
ter two that He builds up believers into one body 
as the habitation of God. This is His work. I 
must have the fullness of the Holy Ghost if I am 
always to be living in the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace, if I am always to be humble and lov- 
ing. Are there any of you who say, "Oh God let 
my life become perfect?" You must have the Holy 
Spirit dwelling in you every minute. I have lived 



THK HOI.Y SPIRIT IN KPHKSIANS. 67 

for more than 60 years and have been breathing the 
air during- all that time. I need to have fresh air 
every moment, I cannot live on the air I breathed 
10 minutes ago, and God has provided for its being 
there. Just as essential as air is to your natural 
life, so the Holy Spirit is to a right Christian life; 
and, if vv^e want that, we must find out how can a 
man come to live every moment in the power of the 
Holy Spirit. It is true, I cannot be thinking about 
the Holy Spirit all day. But I do not think about 
the air either. Kven as with the air, so God ca.n 
keep us under the power of the Spirit all the day. 
May Yv^e begin to see the heavenly possibilities of an 
actual life in Christ Jesus, then we shall understand 
that we can itideed keep the unity of the Spirit in 
the bond of peace. Oh, shame upon us! What 
does every little finger tell you? Every little fin- 
ger says, *' I am at the service of the head and at 
the service of the body." You believe that j^ou are 
a member of the body of Christ, do be assured that 
the Holy Spirit will come into your life with such 
love and power that you will indeed keep in the 
unity of the Spirit, and be at the service of every 
member of the body. It is not enough that you 
keep in the unity of the doctrines of your church. 
Let us indeed keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace! Shall we not say, "God help us?" 
2. Then we find, further on in the fourth chap- 
ter, another very practical thing connected with the 
Holy Spirit. We see there He is the Spirit of Jwli- 
ness. In the first half of the chapter He is the 
Spirit of love, here He is the Spirit of holiness, 



68 th:^ spirituai, life. 

Paul had been writing* about a number of sins. 
Read from the 25th verse to the 31st. Put away 
all these things; they grieve the Hol}^ Spirit of God 
by which ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. 
He is the Spirit of holiness. Saying you are not at 
home when you are, and excusing yourself on the 
ground that it is a custom of society; telling an un- 
truth to get out of trouble; only telling a half truth 
or giving a false impression, and say it is excusable 
because you did not want to hurt the feelings of 
others; whether it is a "black lie" or a "white lie," 
3^ou grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Bitterness, 
clamor, and evil speaking, just telling news about 
others you need not tell; the facts ma}- be true but 
you talk about them needlesslv. This grieves the 
Holy Spirit. Now, dont you see how easily we 
grieve the Holy Spirit and the absolute necessity of 
being guided by the Spirit every minute? "We 
speak about the baptism of power. We need the 
Holy Spirit to get into our life^ to sanctify ever}^ 
act of our being. 

3. The third thing we have in the second half of 
the Epistle is in the 5th chapter, 9th verse: "For 
the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and right- 
eousness, and truth." There we have another 
practical thing — the fruitfidness of the Holy Spirit. 
What beautiful fruit the Holy Spirit brings forth! — 
kindness, righteousness, and truth. How can I al- 
wa3's bring forth this fruit unless I always have the 
Holy Spirit within me? 

4. The fourth thing, in the 18th verse of the 
same chapter: "Be not drunk with wine but be 



I'HK HOIvY SPIRIT IN KPHKSIANS. 69 

filled with the Spirit." Oh what a word! I cannot 
begin to speak about it at this time. The question 
is this: If I am only half or three-quarters filled 
with the Spirit, how can I live in the Spirit? I 
must have Him fill my whole nature. We must un- 
derstand this. A man wants his lungs filled per- 
fectly with the fresh air. A man with only one- 
half his lungs can only have them partly filled and 
we count him diseased. When a man cannot get 
fresh air in a room he goes outside and opens his 
lungs. We must be filled with the Holy Ghost. 
God offers it to us! It is not a spiritual attainment, 
to be reached by a long process. The moment a 
man's whole being yields to the Spirit he can count 
upon being filled with the Spirit. Paul was writ- 
ing to a congregation just come out of heathenism. 
He had to tell some of them not to lie, or steal, etc. 
He wrote to them. Brethren, do not do that which 
grieves the Holy Spirit, but be entirely filled with 
the Spirit. Obey this command and you will get 
right, and all the fruits of the Spirit will be mani- 
fested in you. 

5. In the last chapter we have two more blessed 
teachings, both most precious. In the Christian 
life there is nothing more important than the Word 
3.nd prayer. In the I7th verse we read, "Take the 
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God." When the Spirit of 
God has filled one, he can handle the sword of the 
Spirit, which is the word of God, and not other- 
wise. This is the reason of so much preaching 
without fruit, because we use the sword of the 



70 THE SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

Spirit without being- filled with the Spirit. The 
word of God is a sword in a double wrj.. Ever}^ 
time I read the word of God I ought to let the word 
search me, and He must come like a two-edged 
sword dividing soul and Spirit, entering even to the 
very joints and marrow of the inner man. The 
Holy Spirit alone can do that. Then it is also the 
sword of the Spirit we need when fighting, not only 
with individual, but with national sins and un- 
righteousness. It is not the sword /take, but the 
sword the Spirit takes and uses through me. Re- 
member, all of you who are preachers, teachers, 
and workers, you must be filled v/ith the Holy Spirit, 
He must be in you all the time, or your use of the 
word will be vain. The Spirit wants to live in us 
every moment; then service will be the natural out- 
come of an indwelling life. Only let the Spirit 
have possession. He will use you. 

6. The last we have is p?'ayer: "Praying al- 
ways with all pra3^er and supplication in the Spirit 
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and 
supplication for all saints." The Spirit is a Spirit 
of prayer and supplication, and Paul stirs them up 
to pray continually for themselves and for all saints, 
and for him. Remember, friends, if there is one 
thing we need to be sure of, it is that God has given 
us the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the prom- 
ises of prayer. I suppose not one earnest Chris- 
tian but will be willing to confess, that if he gave 
time enough to prayer, if he learned to use his privi- 
lege, if he would become a man of intercession, he 
could have done so much more for the v\^orld. Hov/ 



ICHK HOI<Y SPIRIT IN KPHESIANS. 71 

can we g^et that? The answer is, the Holy Spirit 
must fill and rule your daily life. 

Now, friends, what is the application? It is 
very simple. First we all want to say, "Thank 
God for the wonderful revelation of what the Holy 
Spirit can do to me!" Then let us ask the Spirit 
of sealing- to let each one know every moment that 
he is a child of God; the Spirit of illumination, to 
have the Spirit reveal Christ every minute, so that 
I can always know what I have in Christ; the Spirit 
of access to God, to lift me up to God in Christ; the 
Spirit of fellowship with all saints round about me; 
the Spirit of inspiration, revealing- truths to the 
apostles and to us; the Spirit of streng-thening-, 
bring-ing- from heaven the divine power through 
which Christ dwells in our heart by faith. These 
are the aspects on the heavenly side. 

In the outward life, the Spirit of lowliness and 
love, keeping- the unity ofthe Spirit; the Spirit of hol- 
iness, never grieving- Him by a single wrong thing 
or thought; the Spirit of fruitfulness, bringing forth 
in me all kindness, righteousness; the fullness of 
the Spirit, so that I may expect Him to take pos- 
session of every faculty of my being, entirely filling 
me; the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 
God, to work in me and around me; last of all, the 

Spirit of prayer, lifting me up into God's presence 
to plead for myself, to plead for the church, to 
plead for all sinners, to plead for those who speak, 
that boldness may be given unto them. Paul had 
been preaching for 20 years, and yet he says so 
earnestly. "Pray for me." Let us pray for the 
ministers of the gospel. 



72 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

We cannot do all this unless the Holy Spirit 
carries us along, unless our whole life is full of the 
Spirit. Do you see, this glorious life is a prepared, 
a provided life? Are you going to accept it? Say, 
"Oh Lord, this is the life Thou hast promised; this 
is the life the Spirit will give; I am going to be 
content with nothing less; I am going to claim it. 
Beloved Saviour, Thou hast purchased me with Thy 
blood, Thou hast promised me the Spirit from the 
Father, I claim it." 

Let us bow in prayer. 



BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 73 



JBe f tlle& mm tbe Spirit 



You will find the words of my text in the Acts of 
the Apostles, second chapter, fourth verse: "And 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Along- 
with that look at Kph. 5:18: "Be filled with the 
Spirit." The first of these words is history; the 120 
disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost. The 
second is a command — "Be filled with the Holy 
Spirit." 

There are often very difficult questions sug-g^ested 
in connection with the question, "How can we be 
filled with the Spirit?" I do not think there is any 
better way to answer these than by looking* at the 
disciples and seeing" how they were prepared for 
receiving- the Spirit and being- filled with Him; and 
I know of nothing- more instructive. Christ does 
not g-ive the Spirit to an unprepared soul. He 
could not, and therefore it is of extreme consequence 
to ask the question, "What is needed if I am to be 
filled with the Spirit?" I tried to point out from 



74 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

God's word this morning, as we studied the Epistle 
to the Kphesians in its teaching on the Spirit, that 
to be filled with the Spirit is what every Christian 
needs, and needs for his every-day life; and I re- 
peated what I had said before, that it is not enough 
to look for the Spirit as a Spirit of power for work, 
but we ought to long above everything that our 
inner life be filled with the Spirit, the power for 
work will come out of this. If I want an apple tree 
to bear apples, I take care that that appletree has 
as good and as strong and as healthy a growth as 
can be given; the apples come spontaneously. If I 
have the Holy Spirit strengthening and filling my 
inner life, the fruit of power will come. 

The disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit. 
Just look at the most important points in connec- 
tion with their preparation: — Who were they? 
What had they done? What had Christ done for 
them? 

1. They were men who had forsaken all for 
Chi'ist. It was three years before this time that 
Christ had taken them into His school of prepara- 
tion for Pentecost. John, the Baptist, said, "He 
will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire," and when Christ called them it was with the 
special thought of training them for the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost. Missionaries often take candidates 
into their class for baptism for three months or a 
year. They come to them and say they want to be 
baptized. They appear earnest, but there is no sat- 
isfactory evidence that they are regenerated. The 
missionary says, "Come to the class; I will teach 



BK FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 75 

you and I will see if jou are prepared to be bap- 
tized." So did Christ take these men for three 
years into His baptism class, and at the end of three 
years He baptized them with the Holy Ghost. 
What was their condition on entering- the baptism 
class? They had g-iven up all for Christ. They 
had to g-ive up their fishing- nets; Matthew had to 
leave the receipt of the custom; they had to forsake 
all. Christ often repeated the truth, "Except a 
man hate father and mother, except a man forsake 
houses and lands, he is not worthy of Me." On one 
occasion Peter said, "Lord, we have forsaken all 
and followed Thee. " My dear friends, it was this 
that was the first step in their preparation for the 
Baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost. Christ could 
not impart His own heavenly life and Spirit except 
to men who g-ave up all to receive Him. He took 
these men to prepare them and teach them to give 
up everything- for God; so they could be His dis- 
ciples. 

Jesus Christ comes to us with the same demand — 
"Except a man forsake all he cannot be My dis- 
ciple." There are many who try to be filled with 
the Spirit — and it is better to try than not to try — 
still many try, who yet have no conception of what 
it is that has to be g-iven up. I must let g"0 the 
world; I must let go family and friends so far as the 
supreme place in my heart is concerned; I must be 
prepared to let go possessions, honor of men and 
opinions of men; I must be prepared to let go every- 
thing I have; I must be prepared to let go self, my 
intellect, my heart's affections, everything must be 



76 th:^ SpiriTuai, lifej. 

sacrificed and made subordinate to this wonderful 
blessing- — the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in me. 
The Holy Spirit is not something* I can merely own 
or have at my disposal, but in Him Christ is a Di- 
vine Master, coming" to take charge of me, and He 
wants every breath of my life, every word of my 
tong-ue; He wants the whole of the self life deposed 
to make room for His life. Christ comes and 
tells me that the most important, the only thing- on 
earth worth living" for is to be filled with the Spirit. 
The man who possesses Him, Christ lives in him 
and has complete dominion over him. He possesses 
Christ. 

Dear friends, there are many of you who have 
done it, who have forsaken all for Christ. Have 
you not often attended a consecration meeting- and 
taken your vow over and over ag"ain, and sung- the 
words: 

' ' Here I give my all to Thee, 

Friends, and time, and earthly store." 
and, 

"All I hare I leave for Jesus?" 

Have you not sung this evening, "Anywhere, 
everywhere with Jesus?" I speak to you who are 
earnest Christians, have you not forsaken all; have 
you not vowed to forsake everything; have you not 
vowed to forsake every selfish thing, your own 
pleasure, your own self, profit, and the world, and 
be wholly for Jesus? I tell you, you have taken the 
first step to be filled with the Spirit. Trust God, 
He will do it. If you have done it, then I want you 
to come under the solemn conviction — I can be filled 



BK FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 77 

with the Holy Spirit, and I am g'oing- to take every 
step God shows me. But if there is anything- in 
which your heart condemns you, beware! If your 
secret conviction is, I have not forsaken all, there 
are little sins I have never given up, there is my 
temper, my own will, which I dare not forsake, 
then, I ask you, how can you expect to be filled with 
the Spirit? It cannot be. Oh, brother, come to- 
night! do not hesitate any longer! There is the 
Everlasting God in heaven waiting to fill you with 
His holy, blessed, divine Spirit; and will you, for 
the sake of something in the world, or for the sake 
of the flesh and its pleasure, or for the sake of your 
own will, hold back and say, ' ' No, I cannot be filled 
with the Spirit, I must give up too much?" I wish 
I could plead with you to come. Come! For God's 
sake let us all say tonight, "I forsake all to follow 
Jesus. I long to be filled with the Holy Ghost; I 
want the heavenly life to live in me fully every mo- 
ment. I want to pray that I may have this * pearl 
of great price.' 

The first condition of receiving the Holy Ghost, 
then, was that these men had forsaken all. 

And the second condition: — They had been brought 
to utter self-desfair. It was at the very beginning 
of Christ's teaching that He taught them to forsake 
their boats and fishing-nets; but later on they found 
they had a very difficult lesson to learn — to forsake 
self. We had that in the words to Peter, last night, 
"Let a man deny himself." They did not know 
how terrible the power of self within them was. 
They were never brought to utter self-despair until 
they came to the cross of Jesus. 



/S THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

I cannot but remind you of the Lord's Supper. 
Two things took place. One was, thev had a dis- 
pute among themselves as to who should be chief; 
there was pride. They were thinking of their own 
glory, and of the place they would have in the new 
kingdom which was going to be set up. The other 
thing was, when Christ was led away to be crucified 
they all forsook Him and fied. Every one had said, 
'•I will never forsake Thee," so self-confident were 
they. Peter had said, "Though all men forsake 
Thee vet will not I,'' and when Christ said. '• You 
will deny Me," Peter said, ''Though I should die 
with Thee yet will I not deny Thee. " They were 
filled with a self-confident spirit, and it was with 
that spirit that Christ took them to Gethsemane. 
There began the time of trial; they all fell asleep. 
Even the three who were taken into the inner gar- 
den could not watch with Jesus. What happened 
then? When the soldiers bound Jesus they all for- 
sook Him and fled. Peter and John, after a little, 
recovered their courage and went to the house of 
the High Priest, and there Peter denied his Lord. 
And Jesus looked upon him and he went out and 
wept bitterly. When Christ was condemned and 
taken to Calvary, there, a great distance off. they 
stood and looked I How their hopes perishedl How 
the J were brought to utter self-despair! Just 
think, when they saw their Lord crucified, and dy- 
ing, and dead, and buried, what must have passed 
through their hearts? They had hoped for a king- 
dom, and all hope of the kingdom was gone forever 
in their eyes. They had hoped their Lord was to 



BH FII,I,KD WITH THE SPIRIT. 79 

reign in glory, and now all was lost. Their hope 
was gone. Worst of all, they had trusted in them- 
selves that they loved Jesus and would be faithful 
unto Him, and now they were all ashamed and 
hardly dared to look at each other. We have for- 
saken Him and fled! We never knew we were so 
wicked; we never knew our self was so strong and 
sinful. We have forsaken our beloved Lord in His 
hour of agony and death! 

I do believe that that Sabbath day of rest was a 
day of unutterable anguish to those disciples, like a 
day of death. Why? In order that they might be 
broken down from all trust in anything external and 
anything in themselves. These two things had so 
broken them down that on earth there was no help, 
no hope at all; they were in utter despair, and thus 
prepared for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit 
must come to take the place of self life; so consuming 
it that a man can say, "Thelife that I nowlivein the 
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." It is 
only out of the grave of self that the Spirit life can 
rise. The Holy Spirit must work this in me. 
With no human help, with the hope of everything 
on earth broken, empty, hopeless, helpless, they 
turn to Christ. Why did God allow all this? That 
they might be empty to receive the new life, the 
life of the Holy Spirit. Christ came on the resur- 
rection day to breathe upon them the Holy Spirit. 
They then began to see something of what was 
coming, though during the 40 days He was with 
them they did not quite understand all. For what 
they did not understand there was nothing to do 



80 THK SPIRITUAI, LIFK. 

but trust. When He went back to Heaven and the 
Holy Spirit was poured out and filled them, at Pen- 
tecost, then they were fully delivered of all self- 
confidence. 

I trust there are many here whom God has 
broug^ht to the end of self. Oh, it is a blessed 
thing"! Are there not some who say, I want to 
find out whether I am prepared to be filled with the 
Holy Spirit? Are you broug-ht to utter self-des- 
pair? Perhaps many of you have asked and re- 
ceived what you thought was a baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, but you did not know the dangers. You 
have said. Well, that is a wonderful thing I have 
got, a wonderful blessing; God has done a great 
thing in me; and there was a secret self-satisfac- 
tion, and a great want of humility, and a great 
want of utter nothingness before God. Come and 
say, I want to be forever done with self; I will 
deny self; I have asked God to cast it out, and that 
my heart may be empty and broken. 

That is the second step to be filled with the Holy 
Spirit. 

Get down, lower down! Do not be in a hurry to 
get up. My brother, get lower down, and become 
nothing, and let self be cast into the depths. The 
lowly, truly humble, self-despairing one is prepared 
for the baptism of the Spirit. 

Are there some souls who say, Self is still the 
great force in my life; self is ruling me; he is a hard 
master; self is working in me every day, and I have 
not been brought to utter self-despair? Then I 
ask you, are you going to miss the blessing? Are 



B^ FlIyl^KD WITH THK SPIRIT. 81 

those who are in utter self-despair about getting- the 
blessing-, are you g-oing- to try for years to improve 
self, to bind self with chains, to make self some- 
thing- not so very wicked as it is? Or will you not 
say, There is no help in self; I will trust Christ to 
come in and take possession? Your Father longs 
to have, as children, a church of believers filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and He has g-ot the residue of 
the Spirit in g-reat abundance. He has purposed to 
g-ive it to you as He g-ives the water and air, freely 
and abundantly. The river of the water of life is 
flowing- full from the throne of God. He wants you 
to say, 1 long" to have my whole being- saturated, 
fully dominated, ruled, possessed by the Holy Spirit 
of God. Brother, if you have despaired of yourself, 
thank God that it is so! If you have not, are you 
willing- here to cast self at the feet of Jesus, and to 
fall in utter helplessness and say, "Lord, I cannot 
conquer self; I have been fig-hting- but I have failed; 
have mercy upon me! Let it henceforth be, "None 
of self but all of Thee?" Come and take the place 
of the disciples and you will be prepared for the 
fullness of the Spirit. 

3. T/iey were men in whom there was an intense 
■personal attachment to Jesus. You know, the Holy 
Spirit is the Spirit that the Father g-ives, and He 
comes throug-h the Son, Jesus Christ. He is the 
Spirit of God's Son, and it is by getting- united to 
the Son of God that I get the Spirit of God. Christ 
taught His disciples to cling to Him, to love Him, 
to delight in Him and to lean their whole weight — • 
as it were— upon Him. In living three years with 



82 THK SPIRITUAL I.IFK. 

them, He had taug-ht them to love Him. With all 
their failures, they did love Christ truly. There 
was ingratitude with it; the failures were terrible, 
with all the self-confidence and sins of the flesh; yet 
they loved Jesus. But was that enough, that they 
loved Jesus? No, it was not. Without the Spirit, 
how continually they failed to obey Christ! It was 
His blessed work to lead them on to a better life, 
where they would have power to conquer self and 
sin. For over three years He walked with them as 
a friend. How He loved them! How He served 
them! How all His kindness and goodness were ex- 
hibited in their presence! Oh, how He loved them! 
It is written, ' ' Having loved His own, He loved 
them unto the end." And He had won their hearts. 
They loved His teaching, and they loved Hini^ amid 
all their unfaithfulness they clung to Him. When 
He died, though they had gone and left Him, and 
they believed Him dead, still they loved Him, their 
hearts were attached to Him. 

Here is our third step in the preparation for the 
baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is when the heart of 
a believer clings to Jesus with an intense and con- 
tinual love. There are some Christians in whom there 
is very little personal attachment to the Lord Jesus. 
^ man may preach sermons about Christ, talk about 
him, work for Him, and give liberally, but this is 
not what I am speaking about. What was the 
charge of Christ against the church at Ephesus? 
"Thou hast left thy first love." There was no per- 
sonal tender love to Jesus. There are some people 
who talk about being filled with the Spirit, -awX 



BK fiIvI<e:d with thb spirit. 83 

pray for it, but I am afraid tliey will not get it. 
They do not know what it is to be cling-ing- to Jesus 
as a personal friend. Before the soul is filled with 
the Spirit there is a tenderness of feeling", a pre- 
paration for it in the intensity of love for Jesus; 
there is a cling-ing- of the heart to Himself; the soul 
is long-ing- for Him, and longing- to love Him better. 
There are some of you, I trust, who can say, "I do 
love Jesus; He knows how I delight in Him; He 
knows that He is the joy of my heart, and tonight 
He knows that I burn for Him; He knows I ask, 
What can I sacrifice for my Lord Jesus? Is there 
anything I can do for Jesus?' He knows that, amid 
failure, I am seeking to keep every commandment, 
and my heart's prayer is, Oh, that I could see Him 
and know Him better! Oh, for the time when God 
has all my heart; and nothing there but Jesus, Je- 
sus only." 

Praise God for every soul that is broken, who 
says in faith towards God, "Lord, Thou knowest 
all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee." Take 
courage, say it with boldness, as Peter did, or say 
it sorrowing; but say it. You are in the right path 
to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants 
people who are intensely full of love to Him. 

We often hear the complaint. My religion is more 
in my head, and in my work, than in intense love to 
Jesus. O, Lamb of God, who loved us I we see we 
have been so busy with ourselves, with our study, 
our preaching, our visiting, our working for 
Thee — so busy with these that for Thee, blessed 
Lamb of God, we have had little time, so little time 



84 THK SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

for meeting with Thee; so little heart and long-ing-for 
close union! Let us fall down and make confession, 
Lord, Thou canst not g-ive me the Holy Spirit; I am 
wanting" this mark; I have so little love. Oh, tell 
me, when can I get it? How long* must I seek this 
love? You can get it to-night if you see your sin 
and shame, and confess the want of this personal, 
clinging love, and say. Lord, let my love now be a 
tender, intimate fellowship; I want my whole being 
to be filled with the love of G od. Say it in humility 
and say it in faith. He accepts that, when the soul 
has pledged itself to begin loving Him wholly. He 
will accept it, and will send down His Holy Spirit 
upon you. Sister, brother, are you ready? Jesus 
wants to fill us with His Holy Spirit. 

4. T/iey had accepted the -word of Christ about the 
coming of the Spirit^ in faith. They were men who 
believed. Those ten days a.f ter Christ's Ascension 
w^ere passed in waiting and prayer. That is faith. 
V/hat did they believe about it? Ask them. They 
could not tell exactly. They had read in the Old 
Testament of the Holy Spirit coming down on pro- 
phets; but about the Holy Spirit dwelling in the 
believer all day, and the Holy Spirit bringing the 
joy and presence of Jesus into their hearts, they did 
not know. They just believed. Our master said 
that He would send the Holy Spirit; they just clung 
to that word. He said it, and we are sure of it. 

How foolish to think of the Holy Spirit coming 
from heaven for the sake of people like you I some- 
one might exclaim. Their answer is, He said it. 
If people had Scdd, You fools! you denied Him, you 



BB TltJ.^T> WITH the: spirit. 85 

forsook Him, you unworthy creatures! do you be- 
lieve you are going to be the elect men? They 
would answer, He said it. 

Now are you resting upon the word of God? This 
morning we had the picture of the wonderful life 
that the child of God can live, all those twelve as- 
pects of the walk in the power of the blessed Spirit. 
That is what the Bible says can be my life. Some 
of you were here when we spoke about the fruit of 
the Spirit being love. Have not all of you said, I 
believe that my life can be a life of love all the day 
long — love to the most unlovable, to the heathen, 
love to all I meet? Have you said that in faith? 
Have you said, The Holy Spirit can be in my soul; 
I can be filled with the Holy Spirit? Can you say, 
I can have the filling every morning and night? 
Oh, take care! don't let unbelief tell you that this is 
too high for a man on earth, that a man in the flesh 
cannot live filled with the Spirit. That is unbe- 
lief. 

Another says. My temperament! There are peo- 
ple who have a kind temperament; but, you know, I 
have such a temperament, I could never have this 
fulness. And so on, in a hundred forms, there is 
the thought, we must be content to live without 
the Spirit. Beloved children of God, take care of 
unbelief, and come now tonight and say, I do be- 
lieve what Jesus says — that the Father delights to 
fill a child of His with the Holy Spirit. I do be- 
lieve that the life of the Holy Spirit is meant to be 
lived by me every day in the week and every mo- 
ment of my life. I do believe what the Scriptures 



86 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

say, that tlie Holy Spirit is able to fill me with 
God's love so that my life shall be one of humility 
and tenderness, g-iving* glory to God and the Lord 
Jesus. If you will believe what God has said, and 
what God is willing- and waiting to do by the power 
of the Holy Spirit, though you don't feel it yet, 
say that you believe it. If you believe there is a 
God in heaven, and there is a blessing waiting, and 
God is willing to give it, will you say that? It is 
an unutterably solemn thing to come into contact 
with God. A man must stand and give an answer 
to God. Many turn round to think about it, and 
will not give an answer to God. Oh, come and do 
something. Set your heart upon it and say, I will 
have it. 

Some are thinking of their business and how it 
would look for them to go down tomorrow morning 
if they were overflowing with the Hol}^ Spirit. 
Just imagine it. They think: I cannot do it; I 
could not manage it! T'oii have not to manage the 
Holy Spirit; He will manage yo7i. He will teach 
you how to live when you are full of Him. 

5. They not only believed^ but they longed and 
thirsted f 07' it. I believe that, with the shock of 
that earthquake that came to them when Jesus was 
crucified, in their utter despair of themselves and 
with inexpressible shame and disgrace for having 
treated Jesus as they did, they learned to long for 
something better. And the Son of God, in the 40 
days He was upon the earth, worked in their hearts 
an expectation that filled them with assurance dur- 
ing the 10 days in which they waited. These 120 



inen and women appeared contemptible in the eyes 
of the world, but they waited for the promise of 
their Lord. They were assured of this above every- 
thing". 

Are you willing- to do this? May God bring- us to 
it! It struck me as a solemn thing-. This is the 
last evening- service this week, and how far have we 
got? Friend, would you be ready to say, God! fill 
me with the Holy Ghost; I am ready. Are you 
ready to say that? Some people think it must come 
as a great emotion, stirring their whole being. It 
does not always come that way. It may come as 
the night-dew on the grass, quiet and gentle. They 
think people must talk and shout. No! What is it? 
It is to have my whole being placed at His disposal, 
and then in faith to receive the gift of God, the Holy 
Spirit taking possession of me. As an empty ves- 
sel to separate myself to be filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and believe then, the Lord has given this 
life, to be filled with the Holy Spirit; I claim it from 
Him; I trust Him for it. 

You know, a river can be filled in two ways. In 
South Africa we have terrible valleys, which might 
be called dry rivers, and then high up the course of 
the river there come immense thunder storms and 
the water comes pouring down with such a rush that 
it causes the stream in these lower reaches to rise 
eight or ten feet high at once, and it keeps on rising 
until it overflows its banks. How did it get full? 
Suddenly, with violence. But sometimes rivers get 
full in quite a different way. There are great snow 
mountains, and the snow melts gently, and the wa- 



8S ^HE SPIRITUAL LIF:^. 

ter flows and fills the river. There is very little 
commotion. The stream rises slowly, and gradt^ally 
the river g-ets full, until its banks overflow. How 
different from the former I There are souls in whom 
the filling" of the Holy Ghost comes with great 
emotion There are other souls who come trem- 
bling-, and full of fear; they are prepared and they 
say to God, O God, it is Thy will that I should be 
filled with the Holy Spirit from morning- to nig-ht. 
I long- for it. I believe Thou wilt g-ive it. They 
say it quietly and they claim it in faith. Lord, I be- 
lieve Thou hast done it. 

Oh, my brother, are you ready for it tonig-ht? 
Remember, the Holy Spirit is the heritage of God's 
church. It is not meant for something- extraordi- 
nary. Each of us may say. The fullness of the Holy 
Spirit is mine. It is mine for my daily life, to en- 
able me to live a holy life every day. Are you 
ready? Shall we bow before God? 



praigtno in the power ot tbe 1bolp (3bost. 



I want to speak to you this morning- on prayer. 
Those of you who are students preparing- for the 
work of making- knov/n the g-ospel of Christ can 
hardly realize the part prayer oug-ht to play in your 
studies. People think a g-reat deal of study. They 
study Latin, Greek, log-ic and science of all sorts. 
They will study music and theolog-y and anything- 
that will help them in the work of the ministry or 
in service of the gospel and yet very often forget 
what is the — it is a solemn thing to say — what is 
the most important part of the preparation for the 
work of serving God. That is fray er I And prayer 
is an art, a spiritual art that has to be studied like 
anything else. You know we don't become perfect 
in anything without a great deal of exercise. 
When a person is learning to play the piano he 
spends, it may be, an hour every day, sometimes 
many hours, all for the sake of being perfect in his 
art. Do not let us think we can learn the art of 



90 i^he: spiritual life. 

prayer without a great deal of exercise. Just think 
what its importance is in preaching-, in visiting-, in 
speaking, in dealing with men, when God's word 
tells me that all my dealing is helpless except God's 
power from heaven works. And the word tells me 
that the power will work in answer to the much 
prayer of faith, praying with importunity, and that 
alone. ' 'Paul may plant, Apollos water, but God 
giveth the increase." Some one has said that farm- 
ers are a people who ought to learn to trust God. 
The}' can sow their corn but they must wait on God 
to give sunshine or rain for growth and increase. 
This is specially true for people who are going to 
work for God. I may plow, I may sow, I may work 
as hard as man can work, but God gives the in- 
crease. And God gives the increase in answer to 
fray 67'. And so for two reasons, dear students, you 
all ought to be men and women of prayer. One 
reason is for your own spiritual life. If the Holy 
Spirit is to live in your life it must come by prayer. 
The other is for the sake of those among whom 
you work. If the Holy Ghost is to work in them 
through the word it must come by prayer. And 
do not think after I become a minister, missionary, 
or teacher, then I will begin to pray, then I will 
learn to pray because I shall then feel the need. 
You say I cannot find time to pray now. I have so 
many lessons to prepare I need every moment for 
study, I cannot be behind in my class, I cannot gi\Q 
time to prayer. Oh! beware. Remember the same 
devil that teaches you this now will find you three 
years hence when your work is much heavier. He 



PRAYER. 91 

will tell you the same; that you have so much to do 
that you cannot find time to pray. Remember, the 
unconverted man says, conversion is easy to-mor- 
row but hard to-day. Even so prayer that now is 
difficult, appears easy in the future. Alas, you will 
find it in the future just as hard as now. I pray 
that you students preparing- for Christ's work ask 
God to teach you how to pray. He cannot do that 
unless you g-ive time to it. Reading* a book about 
prayer, listening- to lectures and talking about it is 
very good, but it wont teach you to pray. You get 
nothing without exercise, without practice, I 
might listen to a professor of music for a year play- 
ing the most beautiful music, but that won't teach 
me to play. So take care that you don't get beau- 
tiful thoughts about prayer; take care that you 
don't get beautiful Scripture truths about prayer 
and yet don't put them into practice by actually 
praying. The words that I want to speak on will put 
prayer before us in a wonderful way. It stands 
connected with the work of the Holy Ghost. They 
are found in the 8th chapter of Romans, 23rd verse. 
Let us read from the 22nd verse. "For we know 
that the whole creation groaneth and travailqth in 
pain together until now." Paul says throughout 
creation there is a groan of suffering and crying for 
deliverance to God and not only this creation is 
groaning but "we ourselves which have the first 
fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves waiting 
for the adoption, to wit: theredemptionof the body." 
And also verses 26 and 27. Now in these two last 
verses I have read I think you will find four 
precious thoughts about prayer. 



92 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

1. We are ig-norant and do not know how to 
pray. 

2. The Holy Spirit is our helper in prayer. 

3. The Holy Spirit prays for us not always in 
words or thoughts that we can understand, but with 
unutterable groanings, longings that cannot be ex- 
pressed. 

4. That God who searches the heart finds out 
what the mind of the Spirit is who always prays 
according to God's will and God gives us the 
answer. 

In the first place we are ignoront and know not 
how to pray. When I have got to do a thing and I 
am ignorant, it is of great importance that I should 
know my ignorance. If I were to ask a teacher of 
music to teach me to play on the piano and I sat 
down with the idea that I could do it, it would hin- 
der him terribly But if I sat down in my ignor- 
ance and said, please teach me how, then I am in 
the right position to be taught. So there are a 
great many who have the idea that they can pray. 
They say our mother taught us to pray, our minis- 
ter taught us to pray. I know of many things I 
have gotten from God. They think every one can 
pray. How often we think we know how to pray, 
and go on for years with the idea we are praying 
right. Now, if you are ever to become powerful in 
prayer, the first thing in prayer must be that you 
fall down before God, under a sense of your ignor- 
ance, and say, I cannot pray as I ought. Kre you 
begin to pray just quietly say. Do I know what 
prayer is? Do I know what it is to meet the great 



PRAYKR. 93 

God? Do I know how to take hold of God and hold 
Him fast? Do I know how to take hold of His 
strength? Do I know what the full fellowship and 
communion of God is? Begin to sit still until you 
realize His holy presence, and feel how little you 
are fit to speak to Him. Lord, I know not how to 
pray. I may know many things to pray for but not 
what I need most. My prayer may be right — Lord 
deliver me from pride and self-will — and yet I may 
not know how sadly I need pride to be removed. 
Perhaps God wants me to be delivered from pride 
and I pray for that; and yet I have never seen my- 
self as God sees me, I have never been truly convic- 
ted of my pride. So you can pray for other things 
and never come to the real point of what you need. 
You need before everything in prayer a deep con- 
sciousness of your ignorance. What a wonderful 
blessing if I come into this ignorance. The Holy 
Spirit will be my helper in prayer. This blessed 
ignorance is one of the most remarkable elements of 
faith. Abraham went out not knowing whither he 
went. It was a beautiful ignorance, it taught him 
to trust God. Look at the disciples. They once 
came to ask Jesus to give them a place on the 
throne. He said, * 'Ye know not what ye ask." He 
brought them at once to the point. You think you 
are asking for what you need. No I you are fool- 
ish. You know not what you ask. Very often we 
pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and we don't 
know what we are praying for. It is of the utmost 
importance that you know what you are praying 
for. I may utter thoughts that are true and yet my 



94 THK SPIRITUAL I.IFK. 

heart may not know what I ask. So, from the very 
beginning there should be in our prayers a sense of 
deep ignorance. Paul says no man knoweth the 
things of God but the Spirit of God. None of you 
can tell what I am thinking about. You do not 
know wha.t is in my heart. No one can tell what 
is in the mind of God but the Spirit of God. If I 
come and pray from what I have learned out of a 
book or out of my experience, that is not enough. 
I want to be taught by the Spirit of God to pray as 
I ought, in unison with the will of God. Oh listen, 
the Holy Spirit cannot teach you until all your self- 
conceit and self-confidence is taken away and you 
get broken down into a nothingness that says, Lord, 
I know nothing. Thus will you learn to be quiet 
before God, and in your ignorance to wait on God to 
teach you. 

2. What a blessed thought that the Holy Spirit 
is given to help our infirmities, and that He prays 
in us. What a blessed thought! You are believers 
in the Holy Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 
The Father— He sits upon the throne as God. The 
Son sits on His right hand as Mediator and Inter- 
cessor — He lives ever to pray Think of that. The 
Son in His glory has got no other work but pray- 
ing; His whole being. His presence before God as 
the Lamb that was slain, is one unceasing prayer, 
and we read that that is the reason He can save 
completely, because ' 'He ever li veth to pray. " He is 
the King in glory, but His highest work is pra3^er, 
and continually there goes up to the Father from 
Him a stream of intercession: Father, bless Thy 



PRAYER. 95 

children, bless My people on earth. Andunceasing-ly 
there comes from the Father in answer a stream of 
blessing" And unceasingly from the Son there 
streams out the flow of the Holy Spirit to bring- the 
blessing to us. And the Spirit is in the heart of the 
believer to teach what this blessing is that Christ 
has for them; to teach them all that is prepared for 
them. But when we are self-satisfied, and imagine 
that we know how to pray, then we cannot wait 
for the Holy Spirit to teach us and we lose all the 
wonderful gifts He could reveal to us. Just think 
what it means. The Father on the throne to give; 
the Son at His right hand to bless, and down in 
your heart and mine the Holy Spirit, the third Per- 
son of the Blessed Trinity, proceeding from the Fa- 
ther. It is ^od g-iving, Christ praying, and the 
Holy Spirit receiving and imparting; teaching you 
to pray in perfect harmony with God and Christ. 
Have we actually believed, I have the Holy Spirit 
to help my infirmities in prayer? Alas! No. 
When we have felt our ignorance, felt we don't 
know how to pray, we have begun mourning, and 
have become discouraged, we have kept away from 
our closet because we did not know how to pray as 
we wished. I tell you, brother, that is the very best 
time to go and pray. When you pray so glibly and 
easily it is very much human feeling and human 
words, and the power of the Holy Ghost is not 
there. When you feel you cannot pray, set your- 
self before God and say, I cannot pray, prayer is too 
high for me, let the Holy Spirit help my infirmi- 
ties and come and pray in me. Vv^hat a blessed 



96 THK SPIRITUAI, I.IFK. 

truth it is the Holj Spirit prays in me and for me. 
He it is of whom we heard yesterday and the day 
before, that the Holy Spirit takes charg-e of our 
v/hole life and dwells in our hearts. If 3'ou will only 
take time to use 3"our Heavenly Helper, He will do 
His work effectively. If I have a helper in any 
work, for example, in leading- the singing- this 
morning-. I have a helper in Professor Towner. 
What do I do? When it is time for singing- I give 
up to him and trust him for the music in the meet- 
ing. To this Holy Spirit, if He is to be my helper, 
I must give way, I must stand aside. How little we 
have acknowledged that the Holy Spirit has helped 
our infirmities. If you are to get the help of the 
Spirit let me give you one lesson, and let me urge 
this upon you, when you are in your closet to pray 
alone you should always take plenty of silent time 
before your prayers and in between your prayers. 
It is a solemn thing to think that I am going to ex- 
ercise power on heaven and bring down here heav- 
enly blessings upon myself and others, and I ought 
to be very quiet before God. Think of God, the 
Three One God, as engaged in your prayer. Let us 
always spend a few minutes, at least, in worship, 
until our faith realizes. Here is the Almighty God, 
waiting to bless me. He is longing to fill me with 
His Holy Spirit. This faith will not come unless 
we take time to think about it. The Everlasting 
God is waiting to bless me. Let me believe God 
will bless. Just be quiet and sink down into noth- 
ingness and let the Holy Spirit pray in 3'ou. The 
Holy Spirit will do it. The Father has given you 



PRAYKR. 97 

His Spirit on purpose to do it. He will pray in you. 
Again when you have prayed, be quiet a little and 
just sit still until your heart g-etsfully into the faith 
that the Holy Spirit is doing* His work in you just 
now. He is given to you actually and really to be 
your teacher and helper in prayer. When you feel 
very ig*norant and helpless, pray. A lady once 
asked a minister for help. She had lost the joy of 
secret prayer. She asked what she had to do to get 
it back. She had done her best in striving but had 
failed. He said, * 'You went the wrong way about 
it. When you were unconverted you tried to 
do everything right and did not succeed. How did 
you get life?*' "I just trusted Jesus," she said. 
"That's what you have got to do again. When you 
have no inclination to pray, when your heart is 
very cold, just go to Jesus and say, Thou hast ap- 
pointed prayer as the means to come to Thee, and 
my heart is cold. Thy heart is full of love, here I 
come in my feebleness. If you will abide in His 
presence He will meet you, and the Spirit will teach 
you to trust and to pray. The Holy Spirit is given 
to help our infirmities." 

We must take care of making a mistake. People 
often think that when the Holy Spirit comes and 
teaches them to pray there will be a great, burning 
rush of feeling and they will pray such beautiful 
prayers. Feeling may indeed stir and help you, 
but many times it is superficial. Let me read the 
words of the text again, "But the Spirit maketh in- 
tercession for us with groanings that cannot be ut- 
tered!" That is what the Spirit loves to do. He 



98 THE SPIRlTUAi I.IFK. 

loves to keep us in our ig-norance, so that our mind 
cannot run away and occupy itself with the beauti- 
ful thoughts from the Holy Spirit. He goes deeper 
than our thoughts and minds into the heart and He 
prays there with groanings, with longings that 
cannot be expressed in words. He gives us a deep, 
an inexpressible yearning, a deep thirst for God and 
for God's glory. Oh, my friends, we are proud of 
nothing so much as our minds, our intellects, and 
our thoughts. We want to understand everything, 
and to know everything. You listen to a sermon 
and get a beautiful thought, you tell your friends 
of it, you keep it to read over again. You have 
got something for your intellect but it has not got 
into 3^our heart. A blind man can understand talk 
about the sun, and light, and know a great deal 
about it; the most ignorant man who has seen the 
sun knovrs more. A great many people know a 
great deal about prayer, but it does not help them 
to pray. We want our hearts filled with the Holy 
Spirit and He will bring us into the life of prayer. 
If the Holy Spirit alone can teach us to pray, have 
we not reason to confess that we have often prayed 
in the flesh? Oh, may the Blessed Teacher, Him- 
self, live and breathe in us, that we may know how 
to pray. May the Holy Spirit, about whom we have 
been speaking and thinking these last few days, be 
to us a Spirit of prayer, as He is in us a Spirit of 
holiness and of power for work; the Spirit of love, 
and the Spirit that brings to us all that we had yes- 
terday morning in the Kpistle to the Romans. A 
Spirit of fellowship, of access to God, a Spirit of in- 
tercession, who give us boldness and pov/er with 
God. 



PRAYKR. 99 

3. The Holy Spirit makes intercession in us. He 
prays in and for us in words and feeling's that are 
as unutterable g-roaning"s. After Paul speaks of 
Him as the Spirit of intercession for all saints, he 
says He makes intercessiony^?;' the saints according 
to the will of God. What that means we can under- 
stand if we look at the 23rd verse. "For the whole 
creation g-roaneth, "all the suffering- animals throug-h- 
out the world, all the millions of little creatures 
around us, these are all gToaning- for a different 
state of things. And not only so, but we ourselves 
groan within ourselves, though we have the first- 
fruits of the Spirit waiting for the adoption, to wit: 
the redemption of the body. Paul says, believers 
should look forward to the full redemption, when 
the body shall be redeemed and made like Christ's 
glorious body, and all believers gathered into one. 
Creation groans for its universal redemption, the 
Spirit groans not only for the individual but the 
united redemption of all saints. There is a great 
groaning in creation and a great groaning by the 
Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and these are 
things we cannot pray for as we ought, but God 
hears the unutterable groanings of the Holy Spirit. 
The Spirit makes intercession in us for all saints. 
It is your highest privilege as priests of God to be 
intercessors. Oh, the value of the intercession! 
When I pray for other people who may be at a dis- 
tance, or when we gather in a small prayer-meeting, 
I sometimes say, what utter folly this would be if 
God's word did not teach it. Here are 50 people 
praying for something in China, or Africa, or E)ng- 



100 THE SPIRITUAI, I.IFE:. 

land, and these 50 feeble ones believe that they can 
actually stir the Almig-hty, Bverlasting- God to ac- 
tion by their prayers and that in answer to their 
prayers He would do something- that He would not 
have done if they had not prayed. This can only 
be true because the Holy Spirit dwells in the be- 
liever, and His prayer in us is from God as much as 
the answer. Children of God! yield yourselves up 
to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of intercession; 
study your work of intercession. If all believers 
were only to g-ive an hour a day for interceeding for 
the church of God! Oh, Pray for the church of God. 
If you would have your eyes opened, think of the 
state of Christendom. Take London with its five 
million, only one million of these go to church, four 
millions who practically are not Christians. ' Think 
of Chicago with one million and a half and j^ou have 
only 200,000 people going to church. Just imagine. 
Think of those who do go to church. Out of these 
how many go through mere formality; how many 
who are living in sin; how many who are not con- 
verted, and how many who are worldly. Think 
that this is not only true of London and Chicago, 
but of all the v/orld. Upon you and me God has 
left the responsibility of praying and taking hold of 
Him. He has told us not to let Him go and has 
given us wonderful promises. Take time to pray. 
If we will give up ourselves to intercession God will 
bless. I would like to ask everyone here, Do you 
pray for the church of Christ in the United States? 
You talk about its worldliness, so much higher crit- 
icism and error, you talk about these, but, do you 



PRAYi^R. lOl 

g-0 to God and cry, Lord, visit Thy cliurcli? Oh, 
do cry to Him, Lord streng-then all Thy people who 
are trying- to live true to Thee. It is one Spirit and 
one body and if you will g-ive way to the Holy 
Spirit He will teach you . to pray for the church. 
Paul says to the Kphesians, "Praying- always with 
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watch- 
ing- thereunto with all perseverance and supplica- 
tion for all saints; and for me, that utterance may 
be g-iven unto me." The Holy Spirit is not a self- 
ish Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love and it is 
one Spirit and one body. May God make you young- 
men and women, may God make all of us, men and 
women of intercession, filled with the power of the 
Holy Spirit, for this our hig-hest and holiest work, 
to interceed for all saints. 

4. Last we have the wonderful promise at the 
end of the verse. "He that searcheth the hearts 
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because He 
maketh intercession for the saints according- to the 
will of God," Just think of that. God is to come 
and search out our hearts. But have we not said in 
words what we want. Yes, but God is not deceived 
with words. God knows that the earnest Christian 
often prays in earnest words, and his heart does not 
truly and fully will what he has said, or, at the bot- 
tom of his heart, there may be needs he has not ex- 
pressed. God goes deep into the heart and finds 
out what the Holy Spirit says. The mind of the 
Spirit prays according- to the will of God. My be- 
loved friends, it is a solemn thing- to pray. I do be- 
seech you take time to practice prayer and in your 



102 THZ 5?n^:7-7AL LIFE. 

prayer every time learn more and more to yield your- 
self up to the Holy Spirit and say to Him that you 
set the very depths of your heart open to Him. If 
your inmost being- is humbly and patiently made 
subject to Him. He can take and make you, not a 
prayer machine, but a vessel in which He lives and 
in which He works His prayers down into your de- 
sires and will, so that you pray in the Spirit and the 
Spirit prays in you. May all of us learn the blessed 
privilege of intercession in the power of the Holy 
Ghost. May all o: us k:i:~ the joy of having God 
search our hearts and answering us abundantly ac- 
cording to what He finds there of the need of the 
Spirit. Mr.v all of us know what it is to cry to God 
with unu::erible and unceasing longings "for all 
sain:s." tliat He might indeed visit and re-vive His 
people. 



Tim HOLY SPIRIT IN GA^ATIANS. 103 



XTbe ftolg Spirit in Galatians* 



I want to take another Bible reading- in reg-ard to 
the work of the Holy Spirit. We have now looked 
at it from various sides. Yesterday morning- we 
had the thoughts of God's work in the Bpistle to 
the Kphesians. This morning- 1 want you to take 
the Kpistle to the Galatians and see what is taug-ht 
there about the work of the Spirit. We are going- 
to study that Kpistle, not with a view to get doc- 
trine or theology, as it is sometimes called, but we 
want to get teaching in regard to the Spiritual life 
and our daily walk. You know that the Galatians 
had been converted under the preaching of Paul. 
There had been very blessed times and the Holy 
Spirit had been among them in great power, and 
yet, strange to say, they had very shortly after- 
wards gone back. They had been led away by Jew- 
ish teachers and had fallen away from the simple 
life of faith. Paul writes the Epistle to reprove 
and instruct them. From what I have said you will 



104 THE SPIRITUAI, LIFK. 

see the state of the church was very low. The 
works of the flesh were very manifest. There was 
a great deal of bitterness, jealousy and clamor, con- 
sequently the teaching- of the Kpistle is one of warn- 
ing. I wish to point out specially, how, in connec- 
tion with the mention of the Holy Spirit there are 
certain dangers against which we need to be warned. 
There are many people who think that when a man 
is filled with the Spirit, he is in a state of perfec- 
tion. They will very soon find out that they are 
wrong I want to impress this very much upon you, 
that when a man gets the fullness of the Spirit, the 
life of the Spirit, it is a thing that makes him very 
gentle, very humble, very much afraid of sinning 
against God and very tender lest he should be led 
to walk astray. He has a spirit of deep, deep hu- 
mility and fear of pride. 

Let us find out what God's word tells us and 
warns us to beware of. 

1. The first mention of the Spirit is Gal. 3:2. 
*'This only would I learn of you, received ye the 
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of 
faith?" There we see plainly that there are two 
ways in which men often think they can get the 
Holy Spirit. One is by the work of the law. That 
is the religion of human nature. We think we 
must work. We have been doing wrong, of course 
we must do right; we have been sinning, of course 
we must give up sin, and the more we give up sin 
and obey God the more we get of the Holy Spirit. 
The Kpistle teaches us that this is wrong. *'Was 
it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of 



th:ej holy spirit in gai^atians. 105 

faith?" Did you find yourselves g'etting- so gfood, so 
rig-hteous, that you could say, Now, Lord g-ive us 
the Holy Spirit? Did the Holy Spirit come upon 
you, in response to such a life, under the law? Or, 
when you were under the law, did it not show you 
that you were sinners and did you not come in faith, 
by the obedience of faith, first accepting- Jesus 
Christ, and then g-iving- yourself up to obey Him 
fully? *'By the hearing of faith" you g-ot the Holy 
Spirit. Take care, those of you who are seeking* 
for the Holy Ghost, that you don't seek by the 
works of the law instead of the hearing of faith. It 
is a free gift of the everlasting God. It is not what 
you do or what you are that will get the Holy Spirit. 
As a condition, you have to confess sin, and to give 
up sin; but the more earnest and intense your de- 
sire the more you fail, until you see that you cannot 
conquer sin yourself. It is as you come to Jesus 
and confess you are not strong enough to cast out 
sin, and say, Lord in Thy power I will live a holy 
life, that you will obtain the Holy Spirit — you re- 
ceive the Spirit by faith. 

As we read in the 14th verse of the same chapter, 
''That we might receive the promise of the Spirit, 
through faith. " Now remember, everyone who is 
beginning to long for the filling of the Holy Spirit, 
that here is the great truth you need, you must get 
it by faith. Faith always means this: there is 
something I cannot do myself, I trust another to 
do it for me. Faith is always a confession of help- 
lessness. E^aith, if it means an3^thing, means this: 
Lord, I cannot make myself worthy, but I can 



106 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

trust in Thy love. Thou canst and will g-ive me 
the Holy Spirit. I want you to say that without 
any doubt. And it is not only by faith once for all, 
but it is by faith every morning-, that the action of 
the Holy Spirit may be received fresh from heaven. 
Many people have a precious experience and live on 
that for forty years. We need the Holy Spirit fresh 
from heaven every day. I don't know of a more 
solemn lesson than that of the manna that came 
from heaven. It became corrupt twenty-four hours 
after it fell. Water you want ever day fresh from 
the spring-; stagnant water corrupts. If you want 
to live the life of the Holy Spirit it must be a life 
continually renewed from heaven. I must come 
every day to be filled fresh with the Holy Spirit. 
This must be the holy habit of my life. As you be- 
g-an so continue, by faith. You must learn to g-et 
hold of God's promises, to believe in the divine, God- 
g-iven power working in you and then your walk 
will be a humble one, from hour to hour. Just as a 
father gives bread every day to his child, so my 
Father gives me the blessed power of the Holy 
Spirit fresh every day. The great mark of a man 
who lives in the Spirit is deep, true, entire, unbroken 
dependence upon God. As I need the sunshine 
every minute of the day, the sunshine of five min- 
utes ago does not help me now. Kvery minute the 
sun must shine on me from above; so every moment 
the Holy Spirit must come to my heart fresh from 
God. And thus you receive, not by the works of 
the law but by the hearing of faith. 

2nd. Warning in the fourth verse. "Are ye so 



THE) HOLY SPIRI'T IN GA^ATIANS. lO; 

foolish, having* beg-un in the Spirit are ye now made 
perfect in the flesh?" This is a most important 
and instructive lesson, conveying- the solemn warn- 
ing", that a man can beg^in in the Spirit and then 
g-et off the line and go on to perfect in the flesh what 
was beg-un in the Spirit. You know what shunt- 
ing- is. On a dark night a train may be switched 
over to another track, and go off in a wrong direc- 
tion. A man may receive the Holy Spirit and get 
shunted off the track just by one thing, the flesh. 
In Romans, eighth chapter, we saw the great con- 
trast between the Spirit and the flesh. "Not in the 
flesh but in the Spirit," "Not after the flesh but 
after the Spirit." So, too, inGalatians the contrast 
is pressed. A man can begin with the Holy Spirit 
and unconsciously be led to perfect, to seek his re- 
ligious progress, in the flesh. Thousands have 
done it. A man has, for a time, been under the 
power of the Spirit, and yet been led to seek the 
maintenance of his life and work in what is human 
and carnal. You may have the Holy Spirit in you 
and yet you have the flesh in you too, and the flesh 
is always active and ready to live the religious life. 
I have seen men in whom the power of the Holy 
Ghost is manifest, and yet there is just a little of 
self. God uses such a man, and yet self-confidence 
may corrupt all. The man perfects in the flesh 
what was begun in the Spirit. This is a danger to 
which you and I are exposed and therefore we must 
take the warning. How can we provide against it? 
You cannot provide against it. Nothing on earth 
can bring us relief. Oh, that we might have a real 



108 THE SPIKITUAL LIFE 

sense of our danger, a sense of our utter inability to 
keep awaj the secret, insidious power of the flesh. 
You need to pour impotence in the very depths of 
your being-, so that 3'ou, through God, praise God 
that your heart is full of the joy of the Holy Ghost. 
You still are conscious that all the time you are in 
the enemies' territory, and may be led to allow the 
flesh to assert itself in your religion. You want to 
be brought to such a sense of your helplessness and 
dependence upon God as shall lead you really to 
yield yourself to the Holy Spirit alone. Dear 
Christians, you haye a great many enemies, but 
y^atch specially against one. That one, how hard 
to be oyerthrown. It is self. Self is the flesh and 
the flesh is self. This is the one enemy you are in 
danger of allowing to come in between you and the 
Holy Spirit and leading you off, shunting you off on 
the wrong track. Beware! To those who are 
seeking earnestly to liye liyes filled with the Holy 
Spirit, let me say, take up a position of deep fear 
and dependence. God's word says "Fear not." 
Look to God, be not afraid. But on the other hand 
it says, "Blessed is the man who feareth." The 
man who fears lest he should sin against God and 
give way to the flesh is the man who gets to fear 
nothing because God is his strength. Haying be- 
gun in the Spirit take care lest you perfect in the 
flesh. 

3. In the fourth chapter, sixth and seventh 
verses. "And because ye are sons God hath sent 
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, 
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a ser- 



THK HOLY SPIKIT IN GA^ATIANS. 109 

v^ant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God 
throug-h Christ." In the previous verse there was 
a warning- ag^ainst the spirit of bondag-e, here we 
are taug*ht that the Spirit that comes in us is the 
Spirit of adoption; we are the heirs of God in His 
Son. The whole teaching- of the epistle is this, not 
to g-o to God as servants but as sons. You have the 
Spirit of sonship. You all know the parable of the 
prodig-alson and the elder son. How the elder son 
said to the father, "I have served thee these many 
years, yet thou never g-avest me a kid." The father 
replied, "Son, thou art ever with me and all I have 
is thine. " Thou hast free access to my presence and 
all my possessions. V7hat was wrong- with that 
young- man? He had the spirit of a servant and 
not of a son. Instead of trusting- his father he was 
living the life of a slave. The spirit of bondag-e is 
so natural to us. Therefore God's word says, do re- 
member you are sons. Let us show it in our whole 
lives, in our intercourse with God and our walk be- 
fore men, that the spirit of a son is in us, the Spirit 
of God's own Son. God holds back no g-ood thing- 
from His sons. Our whole life ought to be in the 
faith, I am always a son of God. I have alv/ays 
everything I need. Most Christians do not enjo}^ 
that because they do not live in the spirit of son- 
ship. The object of the Holy Spirit is to give you 
a full child-like heart toward God, Here in Gala- 
tians we are warned to take care that we don't live 
before God as servants in the spirit of bondage. 
God gave the Spirit of His Son; He sent Him forth 
into our hearts. Oh that we might realize the 



110 THK SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

simplicity of being" a child of God all the day long. 
My father loves me so. See the little child's actions 
toward his father. He loves him and jumps on his 
knee and says, Vf on't you g-ive me this? The heart 
of the child is full oi confidence in the father. How 
blessed if we allowed this Spirit of sonship to pos- 
sess us. Some people ask for the Holy Spirit and 
have somewhat of His power but their work is a 
burden. Allow the Spirit of God's Son, who dwells 
in your heart from day to day, to deliver you from 
the spirit of bondage and fear — that wrong* fear of 
a slave toward God — and give you a spirit of child- 
like access and openness and confidence and love. 
God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into your 
hearts. Do not live like servants, but like sons. 

4. Chapter 5:1-5. You see here that there were 
many of the Galatians, who had been justified by 
faith in Christ, who had taken to works again. 
They were seeking for obedience in an external re- 
lig-ion, a religion of works. Beware of that. A 
true believer waits throug"h the Spirit for the hope 
of righteousness through faith. Kverything- that 
is promised to the rig-hteous I am to hope for. Ev- 
erything I hope for the Holy Spirit teaches me to 
expect by faith. Do you not see our whole life is to 
be believing"? Some people ask, have you not told 
us to work very hard? Yes, but it is a very different 
thing to work under the law and to work by g"race. 
There is a law that you may not steal. How many 
thousands cannot keep from stealing*. The law 
cannot put into their hearts that which shall pre- 
vent them from stealing". The law is helpless. It 



THK HOLY SPIRIT IN GALATIANS. Ill 

can punish but it cannot affect a man's heart. But 
faith can. There is no power in the world like 
faith. Thousands have been attracted to South 
Africa bj the faith of what they heard about gold 
to be found there. Faith is the one power that 
made them leave home. Faith is the one power of 
the Christian life. We are always in danger of 
seeking something by the works of the law. We 
are always in danger of thinking v/e ought to be do- 
ing' something, instead of going to Christ, in faith, 
and saying, I can do nothing, work Thou in me. 
That is what Paul says, "I am nothing behind the 
chief est of the apostles, though I am nothing." 
We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of right- 
eousness, for all the thousands of blessings that are 
to come to us every day of our lives. Paul teaches 
it in every possible way, that we must live and work 
in the Spirit coming from God and filling our life. 
Let there, every day of your lives, every morning, 
especially, be a time set apart for acting faith, for 
exercising yourself in believing, before you pray. 
There are Christians who study their Bibles so 
earnestly for half an hour, they have read and 
thought on God's word, have prayed and told God 
what they want, but they have done no believing. 
They have never asked, do I know, certainly, that 
God is blessing; do I believe, for certain, that God 
is going to keep me? Am I perfectly sure God is 
going to guide me? If you asked them if they be- 
lieved that, they would hesitate to answer. Take 
warning, and learn to say, every time you go to 
pray, I am not going to pray unless I believe God is 



112 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

listening. Am I sure that God hears me and can I 
trust Him fully that He is going to bless me. Hold 
still a little and say. Oh God, Thou wilt bless Thy 
child. If you do not feel that you can say that, all 
the more reason you should say, what is wrong? 
Let your heart go up in confession and tell God you 
are willing to giye up eyerything: you will learn to 
see the teaching about the Holy Spirit and to be- 
lieye in the reality of the work in 3'ou. The Holy 
Spirit is not merely for speaking or preaching, but 
for eyery hour of the day. Whether I eat or drink 
I need to haye the Holy Spirit. I need to haye the 
Holy Spirit to rule my disposition and keep me gen- 
tle, heayenly, Christ-like, deyotedto God. You can 
neyer influence the church of Christ with your 
prayer unless the Holy Spirit is leading you. You 
cannot be liying a holy life and a blessed life except 
in the full power of the Holy Ghost. What did 
God giye the Holy Spirit for? That we might liye 
like Jesus. That our life, like His, might be the 
exhibition of what the power of God's Spirit can 
work. If we would but liye the life of faith how 
wonderfully God would meet and bless us. 

5. Our next warning is found in the 25th yerse 
of the 5th chapter. "If we liye in the Spirit, let us 
walk in the Spirit.'' Let me press upon you the 
great difference between the two things. Paul 
says you may haye receiyed the Holy Spirit when 
you belieyed, but that is not enough. You must 
also walk in the Spirit. It is possible for a man to 
separate the two things, one from the other. Men 
may be yery anxious to get pardoned and become 



the: holy spirit in galatians. 113 

Cod's children, and yet think that after that thev 
must be content to walk in the flesh. Look at 
pride, temper, worldliness, jealousy, coldness 
toward Christ, so little personal love. These are 
all the works of the flesh, and may be found in a man 
living" in the Spirit and yet not walking" in the 
Spirit. Now Paul comes to us and says that if we 
live in the Spirit we must also walk in the 
Spirit. What does that mean? Walk includes 
all our intercourse in daily life, our contact 
with people, our conversation with the world. All 
this must be in fellowship with the Spirit of God. 
Paul meant this Spirit to be in my home life, my 
church life, money making", money giving", money 
spending, every part of my life. Paul says that if 
you live in the Spirit, you should walk in the 
Spirit. Kvery step must be in the Spirit. Am I 
preaching" an impossible thing"? Verily no. The 
messag"e is the very mind of God and God's word. 
What did He send the Holy Spirit for, if it was not 
to enable His children to live a holy and a heavenly 
life? It was to sanctify us, to bring" Christ into our 
lives and to make us one with Christ. In this 
chapter it is stated the fruit of the Spirit is love, 
joy, peace, long"-suffering", gentleness, goodness, 
faith, meekness, temperance. How am I to live 
that? Paul did not mean that for people who are 
better than we are. No, it is for each of us. And 
how can I live thus? By being twice as gentle or 
loving as I am? No! The fruit of the Spirit is love 
and gentleness every moment of the day. But how 
am I to be kept every hour of the day and walk thus 



114 THE SPIRITUAI, I,IFK. 

in love? By having the filling- of the Spirit of God. 
Are you going- to take in this truth? I cannot live 
an hour of the day rightly except as I am filled with 
the Spirit of God. Let us just give up ourselves to 
walk in the Spirit and the power of the Holy Ghost 
will become stronger and we will find there is grace 
to enable a man to live and w^alk in the Spirit. 
This is a question of the deepest importance. 
*'Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts 
of the flesh." There is the answer to the question, 
how can I conquer all these temptations of the 
flesh? Walk in the Spirit. Give up to the Holy 
Spirit to rule your life, and you will not fulfill the 
lusts of the flesh. You will not get out of the 
flesh, but you will have power to conquer the flesh. 
The Holy Spirit will be the energizing and domin- 
ating power in your life. That can be, because 
God has promised it. If we yield our lives entirely 
with child-like faith, God will lead us into that 
life. 

6. Last chapter, "Be not deceived, God is not 
mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he 
also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of 
the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the 
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." 
The Galatians had gone back to the life of the flesh. 
They worshipped God very earnestly but they were 
self-righteous. They thought to do a great deal to 
please God but all sorts of bitter jealousies and en- 
vyings broke out among them. Paul said they were 
in danger of devouring one another. When I do 
not wait for the Spirit of God to teach me and work 



THK HOLY SPIRIT IN GA^ATIANS. 115 

in me then I cannot work in any other power than 
that of the flesh, and it brings me no real peace and 
happiness. Religious flesh, with its self-effort, is 
still sinful flesh. The man who is trying- to con- 
quer sin and serve God, without the filling of the 
Holy Spirit, finds sin stronger in Him every day, 
because he is trying to serve God in the power of 
the flesh. It is self, self-effort and self-confidence, 
and always breaks out into sin. There is no getting 
over this, we must not sow in the flesh, we must 
sow in the Spirit if we would reap the fruit of the 
Spirit. Our whole life is sowing. Kvery word we 
speak is sowing. Kvery action is a seed. Kvery 
sentiment and disposition is a seed. Let us sow in 
the Spirit. Let our whole life be a yielding to the 
Holy Spirit to perfect His life. We shall reap in 

the Spirit a great harvest of peace and pOAver, of joy 
and blessing. 

Now, dear friends, there you have the warnings 
of the Kpistle to the Galatians in regard to the holy 
life. I close by laying upon you the necessity of 
taking this truth to God in prayer, alone. My 
brother, the Father in heaven is waiting. As He 
looked upon the elder son He looks upon us and 
says, "Thou art ever with Me and all I have is 
thine." Why not come and claim what is ours? 
Let us go to the Father and implore Him to teach 
us the right life, the life of the Holy Spirit. Let 
us learn the lesson day by day, to be still and to 
yield ourselves to pray in the Spirit; to walk and 
work in the Spirit. Let us yield ourselves in faith 
to God, the Holy Trinity; the Father, through the 
Son gives the Holy Spirit to be the life of our soul. 
God make it your and my blessed experience every 
day. Amen. 



116 the: spiritual i,ifk. 



*'JBc f lUeD IKIlttb tbe Spirit/* 



I want to conclude these addresses on the Holy 
Spirit and His work in us, by a short summary of 
what that work is, showing- the great and wonderful 
blessedness that the Holy Spirit brings to them that 
yield to Him. As my text I mean to take again the 
words that we have had before, Kph. 5:18. *'Be 
filled with the Spirit." I think we have said that 
we are in very great danger when we read that text, 
of thinking of the Holy Spirit coming in great power, 
under a conscious sense of His presence, with a 
great stir of the emotions, with a great revelation 
of the glory of God, with a great quickening of our 
power for work, and yet very often this is not the 
case. I used the illustration of a river being filled 
up at once by heavy storms of rain, or a river being 
filled very gradually. I might speak again, of that 
same river. Sometimes it is filled by the rain com- 
ing down in torrents, causing great noise and tur- 
moil, and that same river might be filled with th^ 



BB FIIylvEt) WITH THK SPIRIT. Il7 

water running- down from the melted snow on the 
mountains, so that there will be a calm-like, steady 
rising-, silently, without any noise or disturbance, 
and so the Holy Spirit Tnay come with noise as of the 
sound of a rushing- wind and with a wonderful 
thrilling- throug-hout the whole being-, yet, many 
times, He may come on the ordinary level of the 
daily life and a man can live filled with the Holy 
Spirit just while he is walking- along- quietly in his 
daily duties. Then the g-reat thing- to know and 
understand is, what is it that the Holy Spirit will 
work in such a man? I want to give you three very 
sim^ple answers. The Holy Spirit bring-s the pres- 
ence of Christ; He gives the likeness of Christ, and 
the Holy Spirit works the power of Christ. 

1. The Holy Spirit is meant to give the presence 
of Christ. You know, dear friends, that during the 
three years of Christ's work on earth, to the dis- 
ciples, His presence was everything. Christ's pres- 
ence met every trouble and supplied every need. 
When there were people around them the disciples 
knew that they had only to say to Christ, "Do help 
that woman," and it was done. There had been 
thousands around them, without bread and they 
wanted to send them away, but Christ had only to 
tell them to bring five loaves and two fishes and the 
five thousand were fed. The presence of Jesus was 
the supply of every need. They were in the storm 
and they cried, "Master, we perish." The presence 
of Jesus in the ship was all that was needed. He 
said, "Peace, be still," and there was a great calm. 
When He appeared walking on the sea they were 



lis ^HE) SPIRITUAI. life!. 

terrified, because thej thoug-ht He was a spirit. It 
was only necessary for Him to say, "Be not afraid," 
and their hearts were set at rest. When they wanted 
instruction, g'uidance or reproof, Christ's presence 
was their help. Kverything* depended upon having- 
Christ with them. And now, in my life and yours, 
everything- depends upon having- Christ's presence 
with us. Christ's presence is very near and very 
clear and if I can g-et up in the morning-, and if I can 
g-o throug-h the day, and if I can meet every difficulty 
with the secret consciousness that the Lord Jesus, 
the Almig-hty One, is with me, then 1 am prepared 
for anything- and my heart is kept in perfect rest 
and in g-reat joy. But now, Christ was to g-o away 
to heaven and the hearts of the disciples were very 
sad, but listen, before He went away He said, ' 'I am 
coming ag-ain. " ' 'I will not leave j^ou comfortless. " 
He told them that it was by the Holy Spirit He was 
coming- to them. He promised them that He would 
pray the Father and that He would send the Com- 
forter, He told them that if they loved Him they 
would keep His commandments and then He pro- 
mised to come and manifest Himself unto them, and 
that both He and the Father would come and take 
up their abode with them. Do you see that the 
Lord Jesus promised the Holy Spirit? He promised 
in the first place, above everything- else, this — His 
abiding- presence — and this is what the believer 
wants, and, dear friends, that is what 6>?/rlives want. 
We don't know what it is to walk with Jesus as a 
little child walks with his father, and I want to 
press this upon you, the Lord Jesus is longing and 



S^ FitiyKD wii'H The spirit. 11^ 

willing' to come so close to us and to stay so near to 
us that we can have His presence always. This is 
not impossible, don't think it. Jesus is able to give 
us the consciousness of His abiding- presence, and 
how does He do it? He does it by filling- us with 
the Holy Spirit. This is the great work of the 
Holy Spirit, to glorify Christ. Remember the words 
John wrote when Christ said, ' 'He that believeth on 
Me as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall 
flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of 
the Spirit which they that believe on Him should 
receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; be- 
cause that Christ was not yet glorified." When 
Christ was glorified, when He had died and glorified 
the Father, and the Father had glorified Him in 
heaven, then the Holy Spirit came as the Spirit of 
Christ to show us Christ's heavenly glory, and that 
is why Christ says, "He shall glorify Me; He shall 
receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." The 
Holy Spirit is able to fill me with a real deep sense 
of the presence of Jesus Christ and of His glory. 
This is one of the essential roots of the Christian 
life, the presence of Jesus. 

You have heard of what is called, in England, the 
Keswick Movement. Keswick is in the north of 
England. The friends who are at the head of this 
movement stand for what they call the beginning of 
the spiritual life. Their great object is to shov7 
Christians how wrong and feeble their life is, some- 
times light and sometimes dark, sometimes strong 
and sometimes weak, and to point out a better way. 
Many admit that they ought to live a different life. 



120 THE SPIRli'UAI. LIFS. 

They are brought to the acknowledgment of what 
is wrong, to earnest self-searching, to give them- 
selves up to God to be searched, and when the con- 
sciousness becomes strong and deep of what is 
wrong, then there is pointed out to them from God's 
word what the true life is. They don't talk so much 
about the baptism of the Holy Spirit at those con- 
ventions, but the most prominent thought is, Jesus 
Christ is the Saviour from sin and He is able to keep 
you alway. They bring, by God's help, many to 
see that Jesus requires one step. This step only 
takes a moment. You don't have to wrestle, but 
just throw yourself in the arms of Christ and let 
that living Christ take hold of you, never letting 
Him go but having Him with you all the day. 

Out at the Cape I met a young missionary, just 
returned from Keswick, where he had been greatly 
blessed. I asked him what was the difference be- 
tween his former life and now. He said it was just 
the personal friendship of Jesus. This is it: you 
know the Lord Jesus is such a dear friend, He is 
such a heavenly friend, and such a lountain of love, 
that is, if you get into the right relationship. Oh, 
then you must do it. The presence of Jesus must 
be like the sunlight, for the presence of Jesus makes 
everything bright. How can I get this, so that I 
have the Lord Jesus always with me, and I always 
know it, and I never get out of the realization of it 
for a minute? That is what Christ longs for. 
Don't think He is content with the way most Chris- 
tians live. He is such a lover. He longs to be ver}^ 
near to us and have us wholly for Himself, Listen 



BK I^ltlyKt) WI^H I^HK SPIRli". i2i 

I friends, the way by which a man can always have 
the presence of Christ, is by the power of the Holy 
Spirit, and what is that way? Why, very simple. 
A man must confess, "I have not been living* as I 
should, in close fellowship with Jesus. Sometimes 
I have met Him, but just as often I have forg-otten 
and forsaken Him, living- after my own heart, and 
althoug-h I have been kept from open sin, there has 
not been that holy warmth of a man whose walk is 
with his Lord. The Lord wants to have me always 
with Him, and the power of my Lord is to keep me 
always with Him, and the presence of my Lord is 
the only secret of a spiritual life." Believe this, say 
it, accept Him thus, in the fulness of His presence. 
Let me say that it is the wonderful purpose of God 
to make Jesus present with me every day and hour. 
Dear friends, if your hearts long- to know Jesus fully 
as the Deliverer from sin, as the comfort of your 
soul, are you willing" to confess all of the sin of the 
past, bow down in shame, and be willing" to be 
cleansed in the precious blood? Are you willing- to 
g-ive up yourself to a life of unbroken communion 
with Jesus? Oh, that God mig-ht work a deep de- 
sire in our hearts and make us all ready to say, I 
want a life of unbroken communion with Jesus. I 
want Jesus to do the utmost He can for me. I want 
His love to rule and work throug-h me all day. Is 
it possible? The answer comes. Have I not g-iven 
the Holy Spirit, have I not sent the Holy Spirit into 
your heart for this one purpose, that He should al- 
ways g-lorify Jesus in you? Oh come, believers, 
you have the Holy Spirit within you now, come and 



122 THE SPIRlTUAt LlVt. 

bow with shame and say, "Oh God, how Httlehav^ 
I let the Holy Spirit manifest the presence of Jesus, 
forg-ive me. Father, my heart responds and I want 
to open my whole being to Him; I want to yield en- 
tirely to Him; I want to be filled completely with the 
Holy Spirit that my whole being- may be under His 
control, so that He may have power to reveal Christ 
alwa3'S within me." If you will ask that, believe 
God's promises, claim its fulfillment, and say in deep 
humility and faith, "God is trup, the Holy Spirit is 
here, the Holy Spirit can and will fill my heart, I 
am going" to expect this, the presense of Jesus, kept 
in me, wroug-ht in me, manifested in me by the Holy 
Ghost." God help us. Dear friends, the first work 
of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the presence of 
Jesus. 

2. The Holy Spirit not only reveals the presence 
of Jesus but He g-ives the likeness of Jesus. This 
is something- additional. When a 3'oung- Christian 
comes to understand what the presence of Jesus is, 
he finds how much there is of sin and flesh, self and 
failure, and shortcoming- and even though he has 
said he consecrated himself very humbly, and undi- 
videdh', he is very conscious of how much there still 
is that has not been consecrated and sacrificed, and 
the Holy Spirit will lead him on. The disciples 
h?idth.e presejice of Jesus though they didnot have His 
likeness. He was humble, they were proud. He was 
unselfish, the}- were selfish. Many want to have 
the presence of Jesus to keep them up, but they do 
not want to be entirely like Him. You cannot 
hav^e that. They will say, "I cannot expect to be 



S^ PittKD Wl^ii i^HEj SPIRIT. 123 

too iioly. I want the presence of Jesus very near of 
course, but I don't expect to be very much like 
Jesus. " The Holy Spirit comes to reveal the presence 
of Jesus in you, not as a separate person, but as 
dwelling- in your life and heart and disposition and 
character. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal the 
very likeness of Christ in you. The characteristics 
and disposition of Christ should all come to you. 
What are these characteristics, and what was His 
disposition? I cannot mention all, but it is a great 
thing", when looking- on Christ's character, to find 
out what is His chief virtue? What is His chief 
characteristic? The answer is very simple, humility. 
Did He not say; "Take my yoke upon you and learn 
of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall 
find rest to your souls." Did He not continually 
speak about the Father, saying-, "The Father hath 
sent Me." He wanted people to know that He was 
a servant. He said, in substance, "I am not my own 
master, the words I speak are not mine, I don't 
speak of myself, I dare not speak one word of my- 
self, but what I hear I speak. The works that I do 
I do not of myself, but the Father hath shown Me 
the works. I can do nothing of myself." Christ's 
life was a life of absolute dependence upon the Fa- 
ther, to do nothing- of Himself, but just to let the 
Father teach Him, and let the Father work in Him, 
and let the Father carry out His will. "I seek not 
mine own honor, but the honor of Him that sent Me. 
There is another who honors my honor, I don't take 
care of that. I only take care of the honoi of the 
Father. I came not to do mine own will, I have a 



124 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

will, but I gave it up. I came to do the will of the 
Father." There was with Him a certain self-abne- 
gation. He wanted to be nothing" and God to be all. 
His chief virtue was humilitr. He sfave God His 
place and glory; and what is the place and glory of 
God? That God should be all, and in all. Christ 
came to man to take a humble place — to live as 
nothing. God told Him what to do. He tells the 
Father just to work in Him and show Him what to do. 
I am only to let God work out His purpose in me. 
That is the humility of Jesus. That is the Lamb 
of God. Some of you never thought of that. You 
have thought of His sacrifice for sin, and especially 
His blood, but you have never thought of His hu- 
mility. Men must humble themselves and become 
nothing before God if they wish to return to Him. 
The Lord Jesus came from heaven and took that 
name — the Lamb of God — that He might froze to 
man He was the Lamb of God in littleness., meek- 
ness, gentleness and humility, and this is why Paul 
said, ''He humbled Himself, and became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross." He vir- 
tually said, ' 'Let it cost me what it will, I will do any- 
thing. I will die that God's will may be done." 
Deep humility was the Spirit of Christ, and now 
when the Holy Spirit comes to us does He come to 
bring us a very different disposition? You know 
the answer. The Holy Spirit wants to bring the 
likeness of Jesus in us — deep dependence upon God. 
This is what is wanted in the church of Christ. 
There is so much pride, selfishness, unloving and 
self-seeking. ]May God help us to see the beauty of 



BK FII.I.BD WITH THE SPIRIT. 125 

Christ, just to be in love with His humility and to 
believe that the Holy Spirit will breathe the hu- 
mility of Christ into us. Let me say something- to 
you who are in earnest in seeking- the filling- of the 
Holy Spirit. I have spoken to more than one. 
Take a very earnest young- man. He hears about 
this hig-her life. He says, "I want to g-et it;" he 
strugg-les, feels, and wills and cannot g-et it. Why? 
Because there is a g-reat deal of self-will and self 
trust in all that fighting-. That is not the way to 
get it. How did Christ g-et the throne of g-lory? 
By g"oing- down into the g-rave, and God lifted Him 
up to the throne There is the place to g-et g"lory. 
You must sink down into death. It looks so difficult 
for you to understand what we mean. We tell you 
to be in earnest, we tell you to wrestle and make 
every sacrifice, we tell you to rest not till you g-et it 
then fall down and become nothing-, and yet both are 
true. A man must set his whole soul upon the 
price, and when he has strug-gled he must beg-in to 
feel, all my strugg-ling- cannot help me, and when 
that intense desire has been aroused he must fall 
down with helplessness and say, ' 'Lord, here I am. 
I can do nothing-, I lie down, I die to self, I am in 
despair. " When in utter despair the blessing- comes. 
Dear friends, the Holy Spirit is come to work out the 
likeness of Jesus in your hearts. Remember, as of- 
ten as you read, "The likeness of Jesus," this is 
what the Holy Spirit is g"oing- to put into my heart, 
whether it be self-sacrifice or whether it be humility, 
gentleness, or poverty before God. Oh, do believe 
that the Holy Spirit is come to bring the likeness of* 



i 

126 THE SPIRITUAI, LIFK. 

Christ in you. When a soul has learned to look for 
this work with its blessing-s, say, "Lord, I want 
Thy presence, Lord, I want Thy likeness, Lord, I 
want Thy divine life, God help me to have my whole 
life filled with the Holy Spirit." God's answer: 
"Be filled with the Spirit." 

3. The Holy Spirit brings us, not only the pres- 
ence of Jesus and the likeness of Jesus, but third, 
the power of Jesus. We all speak about power for 
work and complain we have so little of it. Many 
of us are very earnest in prayer for the baptism of 
power; many of us cry for more power. All very 
good, but remember, "power belongeth unto God," 
and to Him alone. God has given the power to 
Christ, and Christ has said, "All power is given 
unto Me, in heaven and in earth," and there is not a 
shadow of spiritual power except in Christ, and 
Christ cannot give me power, as a thing to have in 
myself. You all have been in some great manufac- 
turing place or factory and seen the mighty engine 
which was the great fountain of power for moving 
all the machinery; not a spindle or wheel has any 
power of its own; it can only get power as it is in 
connection with the engine. Just so this Christ is 
a great fountain of power. He cannot communicate 
power to me if I have any secret power of my own, 
carrying about. If I want to be filled with the 
power of Jesus, as the machine must be in moment- 
ary connection with the steam-engine, so my soul 
must be in mementar}^ connection with Jesus; the 
powe" is in Him and He, the living Christ, wants to 
wovV tSirough me. He said, "The Father worketh 



BK FlIylyKD WITH THK SPIRIT. 127 

in me." Paul says, Col. 1:29, "Striving- according^ 
to His working", which worketh in me, mig-htily." I 
strive because God is working- in me. Dear friends, 
the church of Christ has a g-reat work to do in the 
world. We have hardly touched the world. What 
machinery and what little result. We are ac- 
customed to thinking- of the work we have to do. 
Think of 800 millions of heathen who have never 
heard of Christ, and of the millions of nominal 
Christians who have nothing- but the form of re- 
lig-ion, without the power, and the tens of millions 
who are in the church, who may be God's own peo- 
ple, yet how worldly, how full of sin, and none can 
do this work but the living Christ. He can do it, 
and will do it, but how? If the Holy Spirit reveals 
Christ within me, my heart will be strengthened 
and I will learn to love souls more and care for them, 
and speak to them in the power of Christ. Do not 
think that is impossible. When a man speaks in 
the power of Christ there will be fruit. How can I 
have this power of Christ working in me? How 
can I preach a sermon to-morrow, visit some uncon- 
verted man? Or, how can I always allow the power 
of Christ to work through me? Listen. I must be 
filled with the Spirit of God, then Christ can work 
with me. You long for power for service. Jesus 
Christ is the wisdom and the power of God. Get 
linked to Him by faith that sees and knows, from 
moment to moment. His power will work in you. 
As the leather band brings power from the great 
steam engine, from moment to moment, the Holy 
Spirit will keep your heart waiting and trusting in 



128 THK SPIRITUAI, WFE. 

the presence and power of Christ, which will be re- 
vealed and it will not be jou that works but Christ 
working* in you. "Be filled with the Spirit." 

As I said some days ago, we take up, next week, 
studies on "The person of Jesus Christ," and this is 
our concluding" address in reg'ard to the work of the 
Holy Spirit. Shall we g-ather up, in one or two 
thoug-hts, all? Dear friends, let us bow very low 
and very humbly in the thought, that the Great 
Spirit of God is waiting to get complete possession. 
Oh, the mystery; oh, the blessing! The Great 
Spirit of God is waiting to get full possession and I 
cannot force Him, I cannot grasp Him, but I can lie 
down at the foot of my God and say, "Father, fill 
me with Thy Spirit." Oh, give up yourself in 
emptiness, in surrender, as Jesus gave Himself unto 
death and the grave, and remember that God raised 
Him to the throne of glory and gave Him the Holy 
Spirit to give to us. Sink down into your nothing- 
ness and helplessness in the grave of Jesus and God 
will lift you up and fill you with the Holy Spirit. 
Often He has done it. Let us then cultivate an in- 
tense longing after righteousness. Let us fall down 
very low and humble ourselves before God. Never 
mind if there are difficult questions, there is God's 
promise, God's gift and God's power. Wait upon 
God and He will give you the filling of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Lastly, believe! believe! believe! withadesperate 
faith. I am convinced God means me to be filled 
with the Holy Spirit. Say it; trust God for it. 
Trust God for it. Sink low down, first, with your 
whole heart, and look to God and He will fill you. 
May it be the blessed experience of every one. Let 
us bow in prayer. 



CHRIST BRINGING US TO GOD. 129 



(Iftrfst Srfngfrtfl xas to (5o&» 



The words I wish to speak on you find in I Pet. 3: 
18, '^Christ, also, hath suffered for sins, the just for 
the unjust, that He might bring- us to God." They 
went into the great object of Christ's work. What 
was it for that He came? **That He might bring 
us to God, " You know there is a great difference 
in a way to a house and the house itself. I may be 
trareling through the most beautiful scenery, on a 
lovely, pleasant day, with delightful company, and 
enjoying every step of the way, and yet, I am not 
content to stay there always. I have gone into that 
way to bring me to the end, the object of my jour- 
ney. Christ is the way; what is the end of the way? 
The end is God. Christ wants to bring us to God. 
You often find Christians so occupied with Christ 
that they never get time for God. You ask me, is 
there any difference between going to Christ and 
going to God? A very great difference. In Christ 
I have the gracious and merciful side of God's char- 



130 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

acter. But that is not the only side of the divine 
character I need to know. In Christ I have the 
condescension of God coming- near to me, but the 
object of that condescension is to bring me back to 
riofhteousness and holiness. You can never have 
true strength and an all-round Christian experience 
unless you learn the lesson that Christ is going to 
win your heart that He may bring you back to God. 
Just think, Christ was not, in Himself, self-sufiB.cient 
when He was on earth. He lived every day with 
the thought within Him: There is one greater than 
I, and my blessedness is to live in dependence upon 
Him, with a will given up to His will and in a trust 
that counts upon His working. And if I am to be 
in Christ and Christ in me, what was His life must 
become my life; fellowship with God and dependence 
upon God. There are aspects of the divine charac- 
ter that are more fully revealed in God the Father 
than in God the Son. Take, for instance, the fear 
of God. I never, in the New Testament, read of 
the fear of Christ. He came to reveal the other 
side, the love and the attractiveness and the trust- 
worthiness of God. The element of fear and holy 
reverence was an element in Christ's own character. 
Do not I read in Hebrews, the fifth chapter, that 
when Christ prayed He washeardin that He feared. 
He had godly fear towards the Father, and if my 
Christian character is to be perfect and all-around, 
I must have the fear of God as it is revealed in the 
Old Testament, working into the very foundations 
of my life, with this most child-like confidence there 
must ever be a deep, deep fear of God before the 



CHRIST BRINGING US TO GOD. 131 

throne. I read that the four living- creatures and 
twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne. 
I read that ang^els and seraphim veil their faces with 
their wing-s; if my Christian character is to be per- 
fect there must be in it that deep consciousness of 
the inconceivable g"reatness of God above me that 
makes me bow in the very dust before Him. And 
it is just because so many Christians have never 
given the truth a right place in their hearts, that 
Christ came to bring them to God^ that there is so 
wanting in them that blessed element of fear and 
reverence, worship and adoration. Come, let us 
think what this means. Christ came to bring us to 
God. I am not going to try and give you a theolog- 
ical essay upon the atonement. You know all 
about that. But I want to look at the practical side. 
My object is to help the beloved workers who are 
being trained in this Institute, not so much as to 
right comprehension and clear thought, but to the 
down-right practical life, such as God would have. 
If we could get a step nearer that life all our study 
and work will be brighter and more entirely in the 
power of the Holy Spirit. How can I make it clear 
that Christ brings men to God? I think I can 
answer it in this way: We need, in our practical, 
every-day life, to be brought nigh to God and to be 
living in that nearness. Let me take the morning 
hour of prayer. A man wakes up in the morning 
with the thought, Christ is come to bring me nearer 
to God. How am I to begin the day if I am to live 
near to God? That is what the heart longs for. 
W.ll, come, just let us think how Christ brings us 



132 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

near to God. A man's desire to '^alk before God is 
strong-. He wants to be as full of God as he can be. 
How is he to attain it? I want to give a few prac- 
tical thoughts. 

I think, first of all, he must set himself to give 
God the place that belongs to Him. If I want to 
be brought nigh to a person I want to know who 
that person is. If he is a king or emperor I ap- 
proach him with a different feeling from what I ap- 
proach a slave. If I approach a friend thoughts of 
joy fill me. Before I am brought to God I must 
know who God is, and as I bow before Him, I must 
say, *'He is the Almighty One, the All Holy One. 
He cannot bear sin or the shadow of sin. He wants 
to take it away. He is the Ail Loving One, He 
wants to communicate Himself to me. The Every- 
where Present One, who is with me and able to 
make Himself known to my soul." If I want to be 
brought nigh to God I must first say. "He is God, 
and my soul must bow in lowly stillness and in 
an attitude of faith, and just exercise the belief: God 
is here. He, the Creator of all things on the earth, 
the Incomprehensible One; He is a consuming fire; 
He is love and wants to impart Himself wholly to 
me. That God is near. But I do not know Him; I 
know so little of Him, how can I come nigh to 
Him?" 

Then next I begin to think. Who am I, and I say, 
If I give God His place I must take the right place 
for myself. I am a creature and I have nothing 
holy. I have nothing good except what God gives 
me. I am nothing except a vessel in which God 



CHRIST BRINGING US TO GOD. 133 

can show forth His g'lory, and therefore I want to 
take my place before God as nothing*. If Christ is 
to bring- me to God I must sink down into my noth- 
ingness. I am not only a creature but I am a sin- 
ner. That ought to make me take a still lower 
place. Paul never could forget that He was the 
chief of sinners. He was always thinking of that 
time before his conversion when he persecuted 
Christ and the disciples; so he bowed low in his old 
ag-e and said, "I am the chief of sinners." He was 
not talking about his daily sins. He was talking- 
about the more than twenty years before, when he 
was a blasphemer. You know, if you are to meet 
the Kmperor of China there are certain rules about 
bowing before him. And there are certain rules if 
I am to meet God. I must come in deep self-abne- 
g-ation. And then I am a redeemed sinner; this 
humbles me still more. I take the lowest place. 
There is God waiting for me to hear my cry. How 
can I have intercourse with this God ? Jesus Christ 
brings me to God. 

Take the third step. The first was: g-ive God 
His place and let Him be seated on His throne of 
glory; the second: take your place before God. The 
third: take your place in Christ Jesus. I am speak- 
ing- to believers. You understand what the atone- 
ment is; that we have been brought nigh by the 
blood. You have believed that for yourself person- 
ally, that your sins are pardoned and you have had 
access to God's favor. You want, this morning, to 
be brought into a life always near to God. You 
need Christ to do it. How can He do it? Take 



134 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

your place in Christ Jesus and by an act of faith 
and by the lig"ht of the Holy Spirit see and believe 
that you are one vrith Christ. Christ is before the 
Father and you are in Him and He is in you. No 
branch was ever so really in the vine, no finger of 
my hand was ever so truly in my body, as I am in 
Christ bv a vital union, and as Christ is in me. And 
when I want to come to God I am told that the 
place I am to occupy is the place of the most inti- 
mate nearness. The writer of the Hebrews teaches 
it. The ef&cacy of the blood is our boldness; the 
living- High Priest waits to bring us in. It is not 
that I am down here while He does a little work in 
and for me. No! As the High Priest who says, 
"Ye in Me, and I in you," He brings me to God. 
In the power of my union with Him, in living fel- 
lowship with Himself, He presents me, and I, by 
'faith, have a real, abiding access within the veil, 
into the very life, into the very heart and love of 
God. There I bow in holy adoration and speak 
the words. 

So near, so very near to God, 

More near I cannot be, 
For in the person of His Son 

I am as near as He. 

Christ came to bring us unto God. I am 
not only in Him but Christ is in me as a living 
person. Christ takes charge of me, Christ intro- 
duces me to the Father, and as I am before the 
Father, Christ gives the working of the Holy Spirit, 
and He teaches me what my work is when I am 
brought nigh to God. It was that God might 



CHRiSl^ BRINGING US ^O GOC. 135 

g^et His children in a life of fellowship to under- 
stand and realize who He is. Some, when thej get 
within the veil, when thej are brought nigh into 
the holiest of all, look upon it as a grand attain- 
ment. It is only the beginning of the blessed life. 
For, when I am there, then God is able to let His 
light shine into my whole being. Then God is 
able to let His holiness come upon me. When I am 
there God is able to make me bow and sink down 
into a nothingness and into humility that I never 
thought possible to attain to, that I may be there 
receiving the inflowing of God's Holy Spirit in a 
freshness and a fullness inconceivable. Oh ! beloved, 
Christ came to bring us very nigh to God. It is 
not only nearness of acceptancebut nearness of love, 
the consciousness that He loves me and I love Him. 
It is the nearness of that union of love which con- 
sists in the closest possible fellowship. Give up* 
all in emptiness for Him to fill, and God waits to 
come down and pour His fullness into me. Christ 
died that He might bring us unto God, and in that 
place, in God's presence, oh, there it is, that not 
only God's work in me is to be done, but there it is 
I am to learn how to do my work for God. In that 
nearness to God is the place of intercession. 
Throughout the church of Christ there is a univer- 
sal complaint that we pray too little. Some work 
much but pray little. We pay far more attention 
to what we have to do with men than to what we 
have to do with God. Beloved, the fountains of 
the Christian life, the fountains of the outflow of 
the Holy Ghost, the fountains of love and power to 



136 THE SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

be broken up in our hearts and to be poured out to 
men, these fountains rise from the throne of God, 
and it is only as man tarries before God in fellow- 
ship with the Most High, that God's love can flow 
through us. Ask any worker of experience, ask 
any man who has preached the gospel long, and he 
tells you he has to mourn the fact that he has not 
had that deep love for sinners which comes from 
dwelling in the love of God. And where am I to 
receive this inflowing love? It is when I am brought 
nigh to God. There it is I learn what intercession 
is; there I become strong to bear the burden of the 
church and of the world in quiet pleading with God. 
I have such access to Him, I am so reall}" His friend. 
He gives me such power with Him that I know I 
have only to plead and an answer will come. Dear 
friends, is there not a great deal of our living of 
which we might confess it bears but little mark of 
Christ having brought us nigh to God. 

There is another step. I say Christ brings us 
thus nigh to God in Himself that we may act out 
and live our lives in the world in that nearness to 
God. You occasionally find men, when they speak 
in public, they have a sense of God upon them. I 
have been told that at the great International Con- 
vention in London there was more than one speaker 
of great eloquence, but there was one man, whose 
ver}^ presence, when he rose to speak, hushed the 
audience. The very presence of God was with him. 
So, with a man like Geo. Muller, who has spent his 
whole life in prayer, the presence of God is on him. 
But how seldom one finds this. Of George Bowen, 



CHRIST BRINGING US TO GOD. 13^ 

of India, it is told, that he had said that the near- 
ness of God was nearer unto him than any man upon 
earth. A friend asked him about it, and his answer 
was: '*Yes, God is nearer to me, consciously, than 
any one in this room." Is it not that presence we 
want? That presence of God to g^o out and meet 
men, to g'o out and do work, to go out and engage 
in business, to g'o out and be tempted and tried, the 
presence of the Everlasting God to be with us from 
morning" to nig-ht, moment by moment. You ask 
me, Can it be? I ask you, I have asked it before, I 
ask it ag-ain, does it cost you any trouble to enjoy 
the sunlig-ht from moment to moment, whether you 
pick up a book to read or whether you look into the 
face of a friend to recog-nize him, or whether you do 
business or domestic work; the sun takes care to 
shine all along-. God has g-iven it to you. It does 
its work. You spend every moment of the day in 
the enjoyment of that light. And what think you? 
Would your God care more to have such provision 
made for your body than for your spirit. We need 
not be in the dark, without the light of the sun, 
twelve hours of the day, and would God not be able 
and make provision that you should every moment 
abide in the light of His presence and the joy of 
His immediate nearness. Christ came and died to 
bring us unto God. Listen to what we read in the 
Hebrews, about the better hope of the New Testa- 
ment "by which we draw nigh unto Gody Listen 
to what we read in the same chapter, * *He is able to 
save completely them that come to God by Him." 
If you will learn, not only to ask this blessing 



i38 THK SPIRITUAL tlF^« 

among other blessing-s, but if jou will, indeed, be- 
lieve that Christ will fulfill this work in jou and 
bring you nigh unto God, so that every moment of 
your life is spent in His presence, Christ will work 
it out in your life. Christ suffered that "He might 
bring us to God." Dear friends, as surely as we ar.e 
God's children our life can be full of God. In Ephe- 
sians, Paul tells us that God is willing to strengthen 
us with might by His Spirit in the inner man, 
until we are filled with the fullness of God or unto 
the fullness of God. I long thought that meant 
some high experience, but it means simply that God 
wants to be present with us with such conscious- 
ness that our heart is all the time full of His blessed 
presence, His holy will and His divine inworking. 
Christ wants to bring us nigh to God. 

One more thought. When Christ brings us nigh 
to God He brings our will in perfect harmony to the 
will of God. I cannot have my will at variance 
with God's will, or mourning its inability to do God's 
will, and all the time have the enjoyment of the 
blessing of God's light and God's presence. 

Christ came to bring me to God. I not only need 
faith to realize that He is in me and I in Him, but 
by faith I need to give myself up to His working, 
that as a living person He shall reveal the will of 
God perfectly in me, and so breathe into me His own 
disposition and His own life. Christ is to dwell and 
live in me. I am not to count Christ as a separate 
being, dwelling in my heart as a locality, but Christ 
is to be in my heart, in my life, in my thinking, 
living and willing, as the very life of all I do, so 



Christ bringing us to god. 139 

that He lives Himself out throug-h me. So Christ 
is formed in me, and God sees the very figure, the 
very form of Christ within me. And as Christ is 
thus manifested within me in His disposition and 
Spirit, the nearness of God becomes more intimate 
and the fellowship with God becomes more close. 
Oh ! beloved, God wants us to come nig-h to Him in 
Christ. Are there not many Christians who live 
far from God? When you press this thought they 
are satisfied with having been pardoned and brought 
nigh. You have reason to doubt your position un- 
less you have yielded to God to work out the practi- 
cal, spiritual, experimental nearness to God. We 
talked, last week, about the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, and the baptism of power, and the life of 
the Spirit, but I do pray you, young men and wo- 
men, who are going to devote yourselves to service, 
and you believers who are longing to live holy lives, 
remember one thing, you want more of God in your 
life. A man has just as much religion as he has of 
God, and if a man wants more religion he must have 
more of God. We have a great deal of seeking of 
more religion, more power, and yet we do not think 
of having more of God. God created you for Him- 
self to fill you with Himself. Christ redeemed you 
to be filled with your God. Oh, come and let Christ 
do His work, and before we go on to speak, this 
evening, about that life, let us realize this one su- 
preme thought, Christ wants to bring me to God. 
I want, by the help of God, to be very practical, and 
I want to ask believers, is this what you are seeking 
for? Have you come here for the acquiring of new 



140 "THE SPIRITUAI^ I,IFE. 

truths or thoughts, or are you here that Jesus may 
bring" you near to God? When you pray, two min- 
utes spent in quietly giving" yourself to be brought 
near to God by Christ would be better than twenty 
minutes in prayer in the ordinary way. We often 
pour out our petitions, praise and confessions to a 
distant God. If you want your life changed, if you 
want God to come into your life, if you want God to 
take possession of your life, in prayer always make 
your first desire: "Son of the Father, bring me 
near to GodJ^'* Bow in the very deepest adoration 
and reverence, and wait, wait before Him. It is 
God's own work to reveal Himself. Bow in an act 
of faith; the Everlasting God is here, longing to 
take possession of me, willing to make Himself 
known. I wait upon God. Bow in deep lowliness, 
and beseech God, for His great mercy's sake, to 
come near and make Himself known to you. I often 
see young Christians, how they try to grasp every 
truth and rejoice over every beautiful conception. 
They resolve to live entirely for God, and they 
know not how much self-confidence there is in all. 
I pray that God may bring them to the place of 
feebleness and emptiness. You know Peter's con- 
secration. It was such a defective consecration. 
He said, I am ready to go to prison and death. He 
truly meant it, but it was in self-confidence. Christ 
led him to see it when He allowed him to fall. 
Then he was humbled and wept bitterly. I beseech 
you, pray to God with your whole heart, "Oh! God, 
make me humble, make me meek, make me gentle, 
and let the glory of God fill my soul with fear and 



CHRIST BRINGING US TO GOD. 141 

reverence all the day." Do not be afraid that it 
will take away your joy. It will strike deeper root 
into the very depth of your being*. 

Christ suffered, that He mig-ht bring* us to God. 
What did He suffer ? Nothing- was too g-reat. He 
endured all, that He might bring us to God. Are 
you willing to take time and trouble that you may 
be brought nigh to God? If that has become the 
object of our desires we will understand the work 
of Christ far better, and our understanding and 
knowledge of that work will bring far more abund- 
ant fruit. 



142 THK spiRiTUAi, life;. 



(Lbxist Xtvetb in fJbc. 



I want to speak, this evening-, about the life that 
Christ lives in us. You have it here in the parable 
of the vine. What can be closer or more intimate 
than the union between the vine and the branch ? 
How the very same sap that is in the vine is to be 
found in the branch. We have very many kinds of 
grapes, but in each case the juice that is in the vine 
is the very same juice that is in the branch. And 
so the very same life and Spirit which is in Christ 
is to be in us. This is the great lesson we want to 
learn to-night. Read Jno. 15: 1-12. Our life is to be 
a life of perfect union with Jesus. Let us join in 
prayer and ask God to reveal to us something of the 
wonderful glory of the life that we have in Christ 
Jesus, and let us believe that He can^ even now, 
give us definite blessing. 

(Prayer.) 

We want to have a clear idea of what we, in our 



CHRIST LIVKTH IN ME. 143 

Christian life, aim at. The question is, what is the 
work that Christ does to bring- us nigh to God ? In 
what way does He enable us to live as God wants us 
to live ? I said, this morning, that we too often 
think of Christ as an outward person here on earth, 
who hears and helps us. A man may come and give 
me $10,000, and so be my helper, but there is no fur- 
ther union between him and me. The man may be 
a great benefactor, but there is no organic union be- 
tween him and me. I may nev^er see him again. 
Many people look upon Christ as such a separate, 
outward Saviour. They never can fully enjoy His 
salvation. I must believe that even as Christ is in 
heaven, so He is here in me, His branch. He comes 
into my inmost life, He occupies that life, He lives 
there, and by living there He enables me to live as a 
child of God. Some think that when Christ dwells 
within us He comes somewhere in the region of the 
heart, and He lives there. We are two separate 
persons, Christ one and I one, and somehow He 
works in me at times. No ! That is not the way. 
Christ comes into me and becomes my very life. He 
comes into the very root of my heart and being. He 
comes into my willing and thinking and feeling and 
living, and lives in me in the power which the Om- 
nipresent God, alone, can exercise. When I under- 
stand this, my soul bows down in adoration and 
confidence toward God. I live in the flesh, the life 
of flesh and blood, but Christ dwelling in me is the 
true life of my life. The words which I want to 
speak are very simple and well-known. Gal. 2: 20. 
"Christ liveth in me. I am crucified with Christ, 



144 THK SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
me." Now, the point to which I want to direct at- 
tention, this evening-, is that if Christ is to live in 
me He does not live in me by a blind force, nor 
without my knowing it. He calls me to come and 
see what His life is, and so, if I desire His life, I 
must give up mine. I must also give up all wrong 
ideas about what the life of Christ really is. I can- 
not have the life of Christ, in power, in me, unless 
I seek to know truly what the life is that He lived. 
Oh! come, and let the living Christ live in you. 
And to that end, seek to know the life He has set 
before you in His example. Not that we are able 
to imitate Christ. But because Christ lived His 
life for us, and imparts it to us, therefore we can do 
it. What folly it would be for a child of three 
years to say. All that my father can do I can do. 
And how can I say, I can live as the mighty Christ 
did? What folly! To attempt to walk as Christ 
did. And yet, the Bible tells me I must do it. The 
Bible also tells me I can do it, because ' ' Christ liv- 
eth in me." If I allow the living Christ to take 
possession of my will and desires, I can walk even 
as He walked. Let us come to the life of Christ, and 
try and find out what is that life that He lived on 
earth, with His Father. That is exactly the Christ 
who liveth in us. There are not two Christs, only 
one, the Christ that lived on earth is the Christ that 
lives in my heart. The great mark of Christ is that 
He lived in the deepest humility and dependence 
upon the Father. He said, "I can do nothing of 
Myself." In everything He had His life from God. 
Note five points in His life. 



CHRIST LIVETH IN me;. 145 

Take His birth. There He received His life 
from God. 

Take His life aiid walk on earth. He always 
waited upon God, He lived His whole life in de- 
pendence upon God alone. 

Take His death. He g-ave up His life to God, 
even unto the very death. 

Take His resurrection. He received His life back 
again from God the second time. 

Take His ascension. He was taken up to heaven 
to find His glory with God. 

Don't you see, from the beginning- to the end, God 
was everything in that life. If I understand that, 
that the Christ who is going to live in me is the 
Christ that honored God in everything. He will 
work that same disposition iti me. And that will 
be the beauty, blessedness and strength of my life, 
when I learn, like Christ, to know that in every- 
thing God is all, and when the motto of His life be- 
comes mine: "For God, to God, through God, are 
all things." Look at the birth of Christ. What 
does that mean ? God gave the power of the Holy 
Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and it was by the al- 
mighty power of God that Christ was born, as a 
child, in Bethlehem. He was the workmanship of 
God. God sent the Holy Spirit to form Him, and 
to work everything in connection with His birth, in 
the Virgin Mary. Christ always remembered that. 
He always told the people His Father sent Him. 
He was not His own master. He acknowledged that 
He had been sent by God. He always acknowledged 
that He had His life from God. The Father hath 



146 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

given all thing-s into the hands of the Son. The 
Father hath given unto the Son to have life in Him- 
self. That was Christ's starting point. My life 
comes from God. I come from God. I have noth- 
ing of m3'self, and everything I get I must get from 
God. Now, if Christ took that stand, I wish that 
we could be brought to take that stand, and to say, 
in deep truth, ''This new life is a life that I have 
from God. God gave it me. I have got a work of 
God right in my heart, by the Holy Ghost, in re- 
generation. I have got a new life from God." And 
what will you then think of that life that God has 
given? Who is going to maintain it? God, alone, 
can maintain what He has begun. He must work 
it out to completion. He must perfect it to the very 
end. So my life is given b}^ God. The life of 
Christ and the life of my soul are both given from 
God in heaven, received from Him, and must be kept 
day by day, in deep consciousness, it belongs to 
God. God, alone, can keep it right, maintain it. 
It is the highest folly for me to think I can keep it 
myself. Have you ever studied that ? I have re- 
ceived, from the living God, the living Christ in me, 
and I am not to try and live out that life, but I am 
to take it to God and acknowledge, "My God, Thou 
hast planted it in me; Thou, alone, canst keep it." 
Do this if you want to realize what that dependence 
is, how Christ lived His whole life in dependence 
upon God's will and God's strength and God's might. 
He said, regarding that question of strength, "The 
Son can do nothing of Himself." Was that really 
true? Yes. He said^ "The words I speak, I speak 



CHRIST lylVETH IN ME). 147 

not of Myself, but as the Father showeth the works, 
them I do." He said in reg"ard to His will, "I came 
not to do my own will. " I cannot trust my will. I 
do not know what I oug-ht to do. I wait fully, that 
the Everlasting- God mig-ht work out what is rig-ht. 
If Christ, the Holy One, needed to say that, don't 
you think you and I need it ten thousand times 
more ? And that is what we want Christ to come 
into us for, to breathe in us that very disposition, 
and that is what I speak of. The very hig-hest 
virtues of any Christian life is only to let God have 
His way. Only to g-ive God the opportunity of do- 
ing- His work in us, and coming- day by day, hour by 
hour, to the place of absolute dependence upon God, 
and to learn one lesson. *'0h! God, I have noth- 
ing. I do not know anything-, I am nothing-, noth- 
ing-, and I can only do what God makes me." And 
now, how is Christ to bring- me near to God ? He 
cannot bring me near to God in any other way than 
the way He came Himself. What was that way? 
The way of the deepest self-abnegation, the way of 
the most entire surrender to God. He was forever ex- 
pecting God to work in Him, to look to God for 
strength. He prayed to God for guidance. He 
cried to God in His trouble. God was everything, 
everything to Him, and Christ was content to be 
nothing. Are you willing to have this Christ to 
come into your life? Dear friends, I cannot speak 
it out plain enough in words. The great reason why 
our Christian life does not advance more, is: we try 
to do too much ourselves. We are far too self-active 
and self-confident. We, perhaps, never learned the 



148 The; spirituai^ life;. 

simple elementary lesson that the only place for me 
before God is just to be nothing- and God will work 
in me. Look at the ang-els in heaven, the seraphim 
and cherubim. Why are they such bright flames 
before the throne of God? Because they are noth- 
ing-, nothing in them to hinder God, and He can let 
the glory of His presence burn right through 
them. And why was Christ so perfect, and why did 
Christ gain such victory, and why did Christ please 
God so ? It is this one reason. He allowed God to 
work in Him from morning- until night, and every 
step was just in dependence upon God. He said, 
*' Father, g-uide me," "Father, I wait upon Thee,'' 
"Father, work in me," and when Christ comes to live 
in us, do believe me and God's word, the first and 
chief thing- He wants to work in you, is an absolute 
dependence upon your God. Christians, have you 
not to confess, I have never seen that rig-ht. I have 
not lived it out. I have not understood that, from 
morning to night, I must let God work in me, I 
must do nothing. You may say, How can we do 
our work ? Was Christ also inactive ? Was the 
Apostle inactive ? With a restless activity he trav- 
ersed the world, and yet, all the time, he says, "I 
am nothing." Waiting upon God won't make us in- 
active. It will give us a higher activity. 

Pray to God to teach us that Christ in us needs a 
life of absolute, entire dependence upon God. 

Look at the death of Christ. What does that 
mean? It means that the life that God had given 
He gave that up entirely to God, and that means 
this: He said, "I have no wish to regard my life 



CHRIS'T I.IVETH IN MK. 149 

as my own property. If God wants it, however 
much suffering-, however much shame and death, it 
costs me, if God wants it, I g-ive it up to God." 
That is fair. That is rig"ht. If I have everything 
from God then everything- oug-ht to return to God. 
Thus with Christ. That had been His whole life 
throug-h, for His death was nothing- but the com- 
pletion of the spirit that had indicated all His life. 
When He was only twelve years old, remember, He 
said to Mary, ' ' Know ye not I must be about my 
Father's business ? " And time after time He said, 
*'It is my meat and drink to do the will of Him that 
sent me." "I am not come to do my own will, but 
the will of Him that sent Me." And so He went 
down to Gethsemane, where He said to the Father, 
**Not my will but Thine be done." I am afraid we 
have never acknowledg-ed the rig-ht that God has, 
and that we have never understood, every power I 
have comes straight from God, my whole life comes 
from God, and every moment of my life ought to go 
back to God, and every strength I get in the spirit- 
ual life comes from God, just as the sunlight comes 
from the sun, and everything ought to go back to 
God, and every action will be to the glory of God. 
A Christian who has Christ in him, will be a man 
truly sacred and given up wholly to God. Is that 
easy? No. Why? Because self is in us so strong. 
The curse of sin has brought us into that fearful 
condition, that instead of considering it an honor 
and a privilege to be nothing and to do His will, we 
have come to look upon it as hard. We have come 
to look upon it as a high attainment, indicating 



ISO THE SPIRITUAL LIFlt. 

that we cannot attain to it. If a man gives up him- 
self, and will come to God, he can live this life of 
Christ living- in him, or else the Bible cannot be 
true. Paul, writing- in the Epistle to the Colossians, 
prayed for the Colossians, that they might stand 
perfect and complete in all the will of God. Col. 
4: 12. Beloved ! listen. Christ only lived for God's 
will, and do you want that Christ in your hearts, or 
do you want to try and live a little for your own 
will ? Do you want the living- Christ, the Christ 
that reveals God, the living Christ, who gave up 
everything, do you want that Christ ? Oh ! come 
now. If there is any man who has a right to say it, 
it is Christ. This is what I want, such a Christ to 
live in me. A Christ that will enable me to live in 
dependence upon God, and in surrender to God. 
God gives you this Christ, if, from the heart, you 
give up your life, time and will to God to do that 
very special thing in me. What does it mean? It 
means a great deal. There was that beautiful, per- 
fect life of Christ, without one sin. Was it neces- 
sary to give up that life ? Yes. Because that life 
of Christ was connected with us and Adam, who 
were in the power of sin, and God said if He wanted 
a life of everlasting glory, the life with us, con- 
nected with Adam and sin, must be laid down in 
death. Christ said, "What shall I do? I want to be 
glorified with the Father." He had prayed, "Fa- 
ther, glorify Thy Son." He felt, I cannot have 
the two lives. I cannot take this life, that I got 
from the flesh, that is in the likeness of the flesh, 
to heaven. It cannot be. So the question came, 



Christ uvkth in me. 1^1 

"Will you g-ive up this life that you have from Adam, 
under the curse of sin. Will you give it up if God 
will give you a life of everlasting glory. Christ 
said, Yes. Christ says. If you want Me to live in 
you, you must do what I did. Your own life must 
be given up to the very death, unto the death of the 
cross, to be crucified. I must die to self, I must die 
to the world, 1 must be an actual partaker of the 
death of Christ. " If we are planted in the likeness 
of His death, we shall be raised in the likeness of 
His resurrection.'* I must say to God, I must seek 
to lose my life, and I want to die to self, and I want 
Him to come into me with His death, and to take 
me down into it. 

Fourth step. Resurrection. What does that 
mean? It means that when Christ laid down His 
life into the grave, that God gave it back to Him in 
double glory. When Christ had gone down into the 
grave and into death, God lifted Him up and gave 
Him a new life, infinitely higher and better than 
the life He laid down. That teaches me this: That 
if I am willing to lay down my evil life, my evil 
will, my heart and its affections, all my power in 
this world, to give it all up to God, to die to it, and 
to give up myself wholly to trust and wait upon 
God, God will give the new and resurrection life of 
Christ, in my heart, here on earth. Christ the Liv- 
ing One, who was raised from death, will come and 
live in my heart. "As He was dead, and is alive, 
for evermore." Study the grave of Jesus. What 
does it mean? Christ gave Himself up unto death, 
utter helplessness, to be nothing before God, and 



152 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

there He lay, just allowing- God to take His time to 
do His work. When He was in the grare, in dark- 
ness, in death, He left it to God, to do what mig-ht 
please Him. What did God do? God fulfilled His 
promise, and gave Him a life a thousand times more 
g-lorious than that life sacrificed on Calvary. Lis- 
ten, if you want Christ to really live in your heart 
you want that Christ who went down into the grave. 
He had trusted God and was raised by God ag-ain. 
You want Christ, with the resurrected life, to come 
into you, and be one with you, the Christ who was 
dead and is alive for evermore, and comes and 
bring^s the power of His death in me, so that every- 
thing- dies to self and sin, and bring-s the power of 
His life, so that everything- in me can live with a 
new life from God, even Jesus Christ that wants to 
live in me. I do beseech you, do not let yourselves 
be deceived with some thoughts about the presence 
of Jesus. Just think of Him specially in me. 
Trust in Him. Let it become a reality. Let Him 
become a live presence. Who is this Christ who 
lives in me ? He is a man who received His life 
from God, who lived that life in intimate depend- 
ence upon God, a man who gave up His whole life 
and will to God, the man raised from the dead by 
the almighty power of God. This is the Christ to 
live in you. 

Last. After His resurrection He ascended up into 
heaven. It means that God took Him up into the 
place of power, to share with Him in His throne of 
glory, to make Him partaker of that divine power, 
by which the Holy Spirit is to become a blessing to 



CSRIST" tlVSTH IN MK. 153 

the world. There are some who cry, How can I be 
a blessing" to my fellow-men ? How did Christ be- 
come a blessing- to the world ? He g"ave Himself up 
to God, and He died to Himself and to His own 
natural life, and waited for God to raise Him up- 
And because He did so God lifted Him up to the 
place of blessing-. He g-ave Him the fullness of the 
Holy Spirit to give you. You want Christ. He is 
in heaven, but, oh ! my brother, you cannot have 
Christ until you have learned the lesson of depend- 
ing- upon God, to die, and then you must learn by 
faith to claim Christ in the resurrection and in the 
ascension, and thus, as Jesus Christ lives in you in 
your earthly life you will become a sharer of the 
g-lory of His heavenly love. The whole Christ-life 
in you, the Christ dependence upon God, the Christ 
given up to God, the Christ raised up by God, and 
the Christ exalted above, with God, this Christ 
wants to come and live in you. If Christ is to 
bring me near to God then it cannot be as an out- 
ward person. He up in heaven and He dwelling 
and living in me. How is Christ going to bring 
me near to God? Only one way. Christ must live 
in my heart. He must live in me by united har- 
mony and oneness of faith towards that God. This 
is a spiritual mystery, but God is a Holy Spiritual 
Being, and I cannot draw nigh to Him by my 
thought nor by thinking about a certain locality of 
heaven. Being brought to God means that Christ 
comes into me and lives His life in me, and leads me 
up into personal fellowship with the Living God. 
Now the great question that stirs the church is: 



154 n^uibi spiRifuAt LiF^. 

Why are Christians so feeble ? And the great ques^ 
tion with many is: What can we do to get the full 
Christian life, to live as God promises we can live ? 
What can we do to become just such children of 
God as the Father is able to make us, branches of 
the Living- Vine, to the glory of God. My beloved 
Christians, let me bring you to the point. What 
have you to do? First of all, we must look upon 
this Christ, and ask ourselves. Am I willing to give 
up everything, that this Christ can live in me? 
You saw and know how Christ lived in Paul. Why, 
it was as if Christ had become incarnated in Paul. 
The same zeal for God, same love for souls, and 
same readiness to sacrifice everything. Everything 
great in Paul was the complete Christ-life in him. 
There have been Christians since that day, that you 
could see the very form of Christ in them. Now, 
are you willing to have such a Christ ? Suppose 
this were possible, if God were to offer anyone of us, 
that were willing for it. Suppose you were to be 
as poor as Christ was, as persecuted as He was, and 
suppose God were to say, My children, I am giving 
the highest glory to man, to allow the Christ to 
come and live in him and live this suffering life 
that He lived. How many of us would say. Yes, 
Lord, I would give anything that Christ might take 
possession of me ? How many would say. Here, in 
Chicago, I cannot do it. It would cost too much in 
business, to take Him in me that way. Oh ! friends, 
God comes to us with that question. Are you willing 
to have my Son, Jesus, as you find Him in the word, 
in His humility, in His dependence, in His submis- 



Christ IvIVKTh in mj^. 155 

sion and obedience, in His surrender to death and 
the grave, in His waiting upon God to raise Him, 
are you willing to have that Christ live in your 
heart? Some men want life to study. They never 
get enough wisdom. They long for knowledge. 

Are there none willing, to-night, to ask God to 
make them willing. I feel that it is time to be 
trusting Jesus. My life is so unlike Jesus, and yet, 
He gave His blood for it. Are there not here some 
who are willing to say. Lord God, help me, I do de- 
sire to have this life and this Christ in me. Is there 
someone trembling, perhaps? I had a note from 
someone this morning. They said they were afraid 
they were not willing to take the step God requires. 
They said, would I pray that they might be willing. 
Well, I do not know whether the writer is here, but 
I know that there is someone that feels, I am afraid 
I am not willing to let the real Christ, just as He 
lived on earth, live in me. I am not ready to live a 
life of real dependence upon God, every minute in 
the presence of God. I am not willing to give up 
all my pleasure and will. Are you willing ? It 
looks hard, but are you willing to come? If you 
cannot say that, are you willing to say that you are 
willing to be made willing to come ? I say. Do you 
will to be made willing? Very well, do it. Say, 
We can come. I would to God that every one here 
were willing. Oh ! come, though your heart is so 
feeble, say, I do want that Christ to live, completely. 
His own life in me, and just reproduce His own life 
and make me exactly like Himself, to live for man, 
in Him. He is ready. Beloved, you have often 



156 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

and often heard the gospel and heard the g"ospel of 
sanctification and consecration and obedience, but 
have you understood and have you accepted this 
truth, that it just means letting" g-o everything", and 
letting- Christ have all? Are you willing"? Are 
you willing to pray, God make me willing, to-night? 
Your life can be changed, and then comes the 
second question, if you are willing are you going in 
fully to trust God, to-night, to take you and to begin 
this great work in you by letting the life of Christ 
have perfect dominion? Are you willing to say, I 
want to become all Christ can make me ? I want to 
please God in everj^thing. I do want Christ to do 
His best in me, I want to give mj^self to Christ, to 
let Him have everything. Will you not, to-night, 
believe an Everlasting Almighty Christ is waiting 
and willing, read}' and able, to take possession of 
you ? Yes ! Shall I not, to-night, claim Christ as 
my indwelling Lord, and say, Son of God, why wilt 
Thou not take me wholly for Thyself? It looks 
hard, and dark, and impossible, but I am going to 
trust Thee, Thou Lamb of God. I long to be 
brought into the very closest union. Oh ! man and 
woman, you are Christians; do not be contented any 
longer with a half-hearted Christianity. Sa34ng, "I 
am saved, and pardoned. I have got a little of 
Christ, I do my best. " Oh ! come to the full life that 
God offers you. Let Christ take entire possession. 
Let Christ come in. The Humble One, the Obedi- 
ent One, the Suffering One, theDj^ng One, the One 
who lived in dependence upon God, and say. That 
shall be my life if Christ will live in me. Oh ! God, 



CHRIST I^IVKTH IN MK. 157 

LfOrd, I am willing-, and I know Thou art willing*. 
I can trust Thee. Oh ! God, come. And may it 
please God now, in prayer, to help some soul to 
touch Christ, and bend the heart to God to come in, 
and may some souls come to lay this life on Christ, 
at Calvary, and say. Oh ! God, g-iven up to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Is that blasphemy? No! It is 
g-iven up in Christ, and Christ lives in me. God 
will make it a truth and a reality. Let us pray. 



158 THK SPIRITUAI, I<IFE. 



XTbe fbc^vcnl^ treasure in tbe Bartben 



In the fourth chapter of second Corinthians and 
the seventh verse, we have these words, "But we 
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the ex- 
cellency of the power may be of God and not of us." 
Before I beg-in to speak on the subject direct, let me 
make two remarks. The one is, that in my first ad- 
dress, and later on, I more than once tried to im- 
press the thoug"ht, that we may be making- a g-reat 
mistake when we seek for the baptism of the Spirit 
for power for work and service. Not that we are 
wrong" in seeking that. But we are often thinking 
too exclusively of the power, and not realizing that 
the Holy Spirit waits to come as a life, renewing 
our whole being into the likeness of Christ. You 
know how I have, more than once, tried to press 
this side of the truth. Get the Holy Spirit, in all 
His power, into your life, to make you spiritually- 



THK hkave;ni.y trkasurk. 159 

minded, to fill you with love and humility, and you 
will be fitted for work. But I would be very sorry 
if any one should think that I count work of little 
value. All that God wants to do for you has this 
object: That you may bring" forth much fruit. 
Therefore, beware of misunderstanding- me, and 
thinking that I would have you seek only for the 
higher life. That might be a selfish thing-, and 
therefore I want to speak, this morning, about work, 
the work every one of us has to do. The other re- 
mark is this: A good while before I came away 
from South Africa, I read, in an old author, a sen- 
tence that impressed me deeply, and I wrote it down 
in one of my note books. It was this, "The first 
duty of every clergyman is to beg- of God, very 
humbly, that all that he wants to be done in his hear- 
ers, Tnay first he fully and truly done in himself,'''' I 
cannot say what power there appears to be in this 
sentence. Brother minister and brother worker, the 
first duty of one who works for Christ and speaks 
for Him, is to humbly come to God and ask that 
everything he wants done in his hearers may first 
be thoroughly and fully done in himself. That 
brings us to the root of all true work. When I 
speak about the love of God, of the power of re- 
demption, of the salvation from sin, or the filling 
of the Holy Spirit, or the love of God shed abroad 
in the heart, you and I need to have God do the 
thing in ourselves, and the more earnestly we seek 
that, the more there will be a hidden power of the 
Holy Spirit to pass through from us, in whom God 
has done what He sends us to preach. That thoug-ht. 



160 THK SPiRiTUAi, i^ife;. 

I think you will see, has close connection with the 
subject we have this morning-. Paul writes about 
his ministry, in the first five verses, and then he 
says, when he had spoken the wonderful words, 
"God hath shined into our hearts, to give us, and 
through us to give others, the light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ." But then he thinks how the Corinthians 
may despise him, how the world looked down upon 
him in all his troubles and humiliation, and he adds, 
*'But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that 
the excellency of the power may be of God and not 
of us." I want to say to all of you, beloved work- 
ers, who long to know what the right spirit is in 
which to work, that this word is one of the key- 
words of God, about work. It will show you four 
wondrous things: 

1. The greatness of the heavenly treasure. 

2. The feebleness of the earthly vessel. 

3. The abiding difference between the two. 

4. The living union in which they are found. 
First of all, the heavenly treasure. What is that? 

You know what he has stated in the words I have 
just quoted. God hath shined into our hearts. 
Think of the sun. That makes us have all the 
sunshine; the sunshine into our eyes, into our bodies, 
into our very spirit, and gives warmth and heat and 
light of life. So, Paul says, 'God, the Everlasting 
One, has shined, and is shining all along into our 
hearts, to give what? Shining gives light, and 
God shining gives the light of the glory of God. 
Yes, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 



THK HKAVKNIvY TRKASURK. 161 

in the face of Christ.' Does that not bring- us back 
to what I have said more than once, Christ wants 
to bring- us to God, and in the face of Christ, our 
one great study, our one g-reat object and 
desire should be, that the glory of God 
may be revealed in us, that we, like the 
angels in heaven, walk before Him with bowed 
faces, worshiping and adoring all the day long. 
God shines into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and 
by the Holy Spirit Hereveals the light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God. It is not an intellectual 
knowledge, but in the heart. A man may have 
beautiful thoughts, he may be a splendid preacher, 
he may be a most edifying instructor, yet, there 
may be very much more of intellect in him than of 
God's Spirit. It must be a religion of the heart. 
God is love. The love of God is the love of the 
heart. God seeks the heart, and God shines into 
the heart, and in the heart the seed of love dwells, 
and the love of God reveals His glory. The light 
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ. 

Now what is the heavenly treasure I am to have 
and I am to carry? I may use different words. I 
can call it the light of God. I can call it the knowl- 
edge of God. I can call it the glory of God. I can 
call it the love of God in Jesus Christ. Dear friends, 
the treasure you have to carry, as a worker for God, 
is a heavenly treasure. The more you realize its 
greatness, the more you will be able to do your 
work. If I am a poor man, and a beggar asks me 
for something, I may give him according to what I 



162 THK SPIRITUAI, LIFK. 

have. I may give him the last dollar. But if I am 
rich I could give him thousands, if need be. I can 
give liberally. Believer, if you get the conscious- 
ness, I am a rich man, I am a millionaire, I have 
heavenly treasures, I have the key of the treasures 
of my God. Oh ! what joy and confidence and power 
you will have to make others believe there is a heav- 
enly blessing to get. Oh ! we talk about the bless- 
ing, and try to know the different truth. But how 
different, if our hearts were burning with the heav- 
enly life of God. If the life of God burns in us, in 
the deepest regions of our being, what a life of 
blessing. Just think of a life, with the light of the 
face of the glory of God shining into us all the day. 
What a heavenly treasure to carry about with us I 
That light would shine through us, and would be 
reflected from us. I pray you, get the light of the 
glory of God into your souls. Oh! workers, the 
heavenly treasure is not human knowledge, it is not 
thought, it is not a little experience, but it is the 
very sunshine of God's glory in the soul. God 
would have you take the heavenly treasure, and if 
you will get your souls full of the consciousness, I 
am carrying about the heavenly treasure in me, I am 
an earthen vessel, but I have the heavenly treasure, 
you would go forth in new confidence and power. 
Oh ! study it not only in books, nor even in the 
Bible. I do not depreciate books, and ten thousand 
times, no, I do not depreciate the Bible, but the 
Bible cannot give it you. The Bible is only a 
pointer to show you up to God, that you may be 
able to come into God's presence. It is found only 



THK HKAVKNI^Y TRKASURE). 163 

in God's presence. Say, Oh ! God, shine into my 
heart. Remember, that the shining" of God must 
come ever fresh upon you. I have said, and I will 
repeat it, I do not weary in repeating" it because it 
is such a lesson. I cannot live on the sunlight of 
yesterday, I cannot live on the sunlig-ht of an hour 
ag"0. I must have the sunlight fresh every moment. 
And just so this shining" of God into our hearts must 
be the livings unceasing^ divine shining" of God 
Himself. Therefore, if the believer wants to be a 
worker for God, wants to carry the treasure, in ever 
fresh power, his one desire must be, to abide every 
moment, in the full lig"ht of God's love and God's 
presence. Young" man and young" woman, students 
of this Bible Institute, I pray you remember, a man 
has as much real power for eternity as he has of 
God shining" into his heart. And while I pray you 
to be faithful in your study and use your time well, 
and while I would urg"e you use every opportunity 
for getting" acquainted with that precious word, yet 
I say, first and last, everything depends upon a 
man living in the light of God's presence, in the 
light of God's love, and waiting until he has the 
heavenly treasure in his heart, God shining there 
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ. May every act of faith in 
Christ lead you up to God, and stir you to wait upon 
the Everlasting God, to reveal Himself more fully. 
Let there be a holy hunger and thirst of the heart 
after God and after a life like that of Christ's, living 
every hour in fellowship with the Father, and in 
dependence upon Him. Oh ! what a blessed work 



164 THK SPIRITUAI, I,IFK. 

the work of the ministry. What a blessed work, 
proclaiming" the salvation of Jesus Christ. The 
humblest teacher or Bible reader can g-o to others, 
carrying- not only the Bible, but the very light of 
God, shining into him and out of him. A lamp is 
not made to light, but to carry the light, and I carry 
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
my heart; carry Jesus Christ Himself; carry the 
glory of God. Dear brother, the most precious 
thing you have in your heart, and the most blessed 
thing you can desire is to have God fill that heart, 
a heavenly treasure in an earthen vessel. 

2. Why is it that so many believers, and so many 
workers, and so many ministers, enjoy so little of 
this glory of the heavenly treasure? The answer 
is simply, because they are all looking at the 
earthly treasure in a wrong way. Many ministers 
and Christians are always saying, I am so weak, I 
am so feeble, and my thoughts are so poor, and my 
experience is so wretched, and they do not under- 
stand why God puts the treasure in the earthen ves- 
sel. They have not accepted their position, as an 
earthen vessel. The more conscious I am of the 
utter valuelessness of the earthen vessel, the more 
I can rejoice in the glory of the treasure. Here on 
earth people g-enerally seek to have some proportion 
between the treasure and the vessel in which it is 
kept. Take the richest people in Chicago, whose 
wives have received from husbands the most beau- 
tiful diamonds and jewelry, we will find them all in 
beautiful caskets, elegantly polished and made most 
expensively. Some inlaid with gold, some all of 



tn-^ HEjAVEjNtY ^rBasur:^. 16S 

gold. We always expect some proportion between 
the treasure and the vessel, and people think, ac- 
cording- to the beauty of the vessel will be the 
beauty of the treasure. God does the very opposite, 
and that is why Paul says in our text, how he was 
persecuted and had to suffer. It was all well; he 
knew he was an earthen vessel with a heavenly 
treasure. The more he felt the insignificance of 
the earthen vessel, the more he rejoiced in the 
heavenly treasure. When at Johannesburg, I was 
shown over a gold mine. Coming out from the 
door of the furnace room we met a man carrying 
something in a plain iron vessel. When asked, by 
the manager, to lift the cover, we saw gold to the 
value of $1,000 being brought in to the furnace. 
He had that lump of gold in a common iron vessel 
that you could get for a half a dollar. There was 
a very precious treasure in a very common vessel. 
God wants us to realize that. His plan and His 
delight is to put the heavenly treasure into an 
earthen vessel. Let us be content with that. 

Kvery one of us has often experienced that, and 
it has cast us down. You want to preach, but feel 
unable to do as you would wish. You have not the 
warmth and fullness you like to have. You are 
cast down because you look in the earthen vessel. 
Your whole thought should be: Let the heavenly 
treasure be magnified. If you are full of that, God 
will help you to praise Him, and your whole heart 
will be ever set on one thing — the heavenly treasure. 
God will honor it, and all the time and strength 
that you have will be saved for the one blessed work 



166 THK SPIRITUAI, tIFK. 

of praising God and trusting Him and waiting upon 
Him. We have a heavenly treasure in an earthen 
vessel. Beloved workers, if I could rouse your 
hearts by the Holy Spirit to consider your position. 
Listen, while I tell you. God in heaven has a 
treasure. Its worth passes all thought, and that 
treasure is His beloved Son. In Him it hath pleased 
the Father that all the fullness should dwell. In 
Him are hidden all the riches of the wisdom and of 
the knowledge of God. Christ is God's treasure, 
and God's delight, and the storehouse of all God's 
riches. God had that treasure in heaven, but sent 
it down to earth, and in the Babe of Bethlehem. In 
that Jesus who had not a place to lay His head; in 
that Jesus as an earthen vessel, there was that 
heavenly treasure of God. The Jesus that went 
down into the grave, in that broken earthen vessel, 
was the treasure of God. He lifted Him up to the 
glory, and then the Holy Spirit came down to bring 
that heavenly treasure into the hearts of men. And 
the treasure in heaven, that God delights in, can be 
a treasure in your heart, that you can delight in. 
Do let every worker take time to study this. May 
God show His people, show me, the heavenly treas- 
ure that I carry about. The treasure of God's 
heart is the treasure of my heart. The glory of 
God shines in the face of His beloved Son, and 
though you are an earthen vessel, your joy, your 
confidence and your power may be unfailing. In 
the earthen vessel we have the heavenly treasure. 

3. There is another point I mentioned. We 
want to speak about the abiding difference between 



f H^ HKAVKNI.Y TrKASURK. 16^7 

the two. Some people would think: Yes, at the be- 
ginning- of the Christian life, a man will feel that 
very clearly. It is a very earthen vessel with a 
heavenly treasure in it. But when a man has been 
living a spiritual life, living in fellowship with God 
for years, should he still feel he is just an earthen 
vessel? When a man has become humble and 
Christ-like, will he then still be an earthen vessel ? 
Yes, beloved. Paul had been for years in the rich 
experience of God's grace, and yet he speaks of 
himself as an earthen vessel. And he would re- 
main one until the end, and why? The reason is 
given in our text, ''That the excellency of the power 
may be of God." We are, by nature, so full of 
pride and self in the most spiritual believer there is 
always danger of self-exaltation. Remember, in 2 
Cor. 12, Paul writes, "Lest I should be exalted by 
the revelations I had received, God sent a thorn in 
the flesh to humble me," and you know how Christ 
taught him that when he was weak he would be 
strongest, because Christ's power would rest upon 
his weakness. And even so God comes to us. We 
are ever in danger of beginning to think that we 
are something; that God is putting this heavenly 
treasure, ever more abundantly, in us. Or when we 
begin to think that God uses us todispense to others 
again the heavenly treasure, and makes us a bless- 
ing to others, there is danger of our forgetting 
what we are; and so God says it shall be forever a 
heavenly treasure in a mere earthen vessel. I have 
pressed you to remember and study what the treas- 
ure is, for it is very heavenly. I now press you to 



168 THK SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

study the other side; no matter how many you have 
brought to Christ, the vessel is still earthen. You 
are nothing*. Oh ! if you once begin to understand 
it, you will not only be content to accept the posi- 
tion, but rejoice in it. In regard to this there may 
be three states of mind. The one is when a man 
does not want to be an earthen vessel. He longs to 
be something better, to beautify the vessel by cul- 
ture and study. He does not want to be an earthen 
vessel and he is unwearied in the effort to improve 
the earthen vessel. 

It is a step in advance when a man begins to con- 
sent to be an earthen vessel. He begins to feel he 
cannot be otherwise, and tries to submit to it. He 
bears it as a humiliation but does not rejoice in it. 

3rd step. He begins to delight in being an earth- 
en vessel. He sees why it should be so, and ap- 
proves of it. He counts it his highest blessedness. 

Paul did not get to the position we referred to, in 
12th chapter of 2 Cor. at once. When the Lord sent 
that messenger of Satan to buffet him he said, three 
times, **Lord, do take it away." The Lord came to 
Paul and said. You do not know that the messenger 
of Satan is your greatest blessing. Why, Lord? 
Because he will teach you to be absolutely depend- 
ent upon Me every moment. Paul got a sight of it; 
he says, *'I will glory, will rejoice in my infirmities, 
in the weakness of the earthen vessel." That is a 
higher attainment, not only to endure but to rejoice 
in being an earthen vessel. Remember, no matter 
how full God may fill your heart with His salvation, 
the consciousness will always have to grow deeper. 



THK HKAVKNi^Y Treasure;. 169 

I am an earthen vessel. That is why Paul says, in 
the same chapter, "In nothing am I behind the 
chief est of the Apostles, though I am nothing, God 
made the creature originally to be a vessel, in which 
to shov7 forth His divine glory. This is your high- 
est honor, to be a vessel to carry the power and 
light of God. That is what angels were created 
for, to be vessels in which the glory of God could 
be shown forth. That is what the child of God 
should be content to be, a vessel, empty, low and 
broken, if need be, to be filled with Christ, the 
treasure of God. 

My last thought. The abiding union between 
the two; the living union. I said there is an abid- 
ing difference to the end. But remember, also, 
there is a living union. There was no living union 
between that mass of gold away in Johannesburg, I 
spoke of, and that iron dish. The two were sepa- 
rate. But the treasure of God enters into a man; 
though I remain an earthen vessel, the heavenly 
treasure becomes mine in such a way that it enters 
my life and becomes myself. All the life of God, 
and the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy love of 
God and Holy Son of God, and the Holy glory of God, 
they all, all pass down into my very being in such 
an infinite, divine reality, that they are my very own 
and they make up myself. God teaches me a double 
lesson. First of all, to understand the everlasting 
difference, that I as a creature, ever am nothing but 
a vessel. If I begin to know the glory of God I 
don't want to be anything else; I become jealous of 
the honor and glory of God and my highest desire is 



170 THE SPIRITUAL LIFfi. 

to g*et lower and deeper down that God may be all. 
But with this abiding difference there comes what 
appears a contradiction, and yet is a blessed reality. 
I know that the treasure is not in me and that all 
my being is only emptiness that holds it; yet this 
living treasure becomes my very self. This living 
treasure fills me and becomes inseparably one with 
me; for my life and for my work. The heavenly 
treasure is in the earthen vessel. What is the ob- 
ject? The object is this, that the excellency of the 
power may be of God. Yes, that is why God has 
put the heavenly treasure in the earthen vessel, that 
His beloved servants may learn to be filled with the 
thought that the power is of God alone. Let my 
one aim be to be nothing. No being can tell how 
God will give the heavenly treasure into the heart 
that is thoroughly empty. 

Dear friends, we sum it all up in two thoughts. 
The one: Beloved child of God be very humble and 
get very low down. The other: Beloved child of 
God, be very trustful and get very high up. 1 have 
said it more than once, be very humble. Young 
men and young women who are studying, I pray 
you, by the mercies of God, whatever you study do 
not forget to study humility. Some one has said, 
pray to be delivered from every vestige of pride, as 
spirits in torment would pray if they had any hope 
of being delivered. Pray to be delivered from 
every secret root of anything like pride. Pray to 
be brought down to the dust before your God. Take 
time to get low before God. God giveth grace to 
the humble. If you want to get the heavenly treas- 



Thk hkavkni^y trkasurk. 171 

ure, g'et low. A vessel must be empty, clean and 
lowly. Let us all be willing- to say, "Lord, deepen 
in my soul the conviction of my utter nothing-ness, 
and let me walk in holy fear and trembling-," and 
let it be one desire of my heart to g-et low enough 
before God, that God may fill me. The other 
thoug-ht: Be very trustful and rise hig-h in your ex- 
pectation. I bring- you this messag-e. You want to 
be workers. I mig-ht have spoken about the love we 
need for souls, and the glory of God in our work, 
and about prayer in work; but here is the chief 
thing, Christian worker, be very trustful. God has 
a treasure, His beloved Son. God hath entrusted 
you who are believers with this treasure. It is in 
your heart. You can hide it, you can hinder it, or, 
you can open your being very wide to be filled with 
it. Oh do believe in the glory of that treasure, in 
the power of that treasure, in the heavenly joy of 
that treasure, in its unutterable riches. It is God 
shining into you, His sunshine, His love, God shin- 
ing His Spirit, God shining His love into your very 
heart; begin to open your heart very wide, and so, 
every moment of the day, let the treasure come in. 
Every moment of the day let God shine into your 
heart the glory of His Son, and believe you will be 
able to say with Paul, We have this treasure. Let 
us say to-day, I have this treasure, this divine treas- 
ure, and I am going to ask my God to reveal it to 
me. I walk tremblingly at the thought, I carry 
the heavenly treasure. If you had a diamond of 
twenty thousand dollars how carefully you would 
keep it. Believers, don't be so occupied with your 



172 TH:e SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

work for Christ, and study, as to forget the chief 
thing", I have the heavenly treasure. Let me walk 
carefully and watchfully, believing- God alone will 
keep shining all the time. May every heart here 
know what it is; every hour, every moment, God 
shines into me the light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Christ. 

Moment by moment I'm kept in His love, 
Moment by moment I've life from above. 

God shines it and keeps it shining as He does the 

sunlight. 



WII.I.ING AND DOING. 173 



TOlillina anb Doing* 



The words of my text, this evening, you find in 
Romans and Philippians. Romans, the seventh 
chapter, the second half of the eighteenth verse: 
"For to will is present with me, but how to perform 
that which is good, I know not." And then Phil- 
ippians, the second chapter and the twelfth verse, 
the second half, and the thirteenth: "Work out your 
own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God 
which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His 
good pleasure. " You see how these two texts ap- 
pear to contradict one another. The first text gives 
us the experience of a man who says, "To will is 
present with me." My will is right; I am willing 
to do God's will; I am willing to do what is good. 
"But," he says, "I have not the power. How to per- 
form I find not." It is a man with whom there is a 
great gulf between willing and doing. Just the 
state of a great many Christians. They will what 
is good, and somehow they have not the strength to 



174 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

perform. They cannot understand it themselves, 
and others cannot understand it, and yet it is exactly 
as you have it here. "To will is present with me, 
but how to perform I find not." In the second text 
you have the very opposite. There Paul says, 
*'Work out your own salvation with fear and trem- 
bling", for it is God which worketh in you, both to 
will and to do according to His good pleasure*" 
Here is a man in whom Paul says that God does 
both the things, not only the willing but the doing, 
also. Now in these two texts we have just the ex- 
act description of the two stages of the Christian 
life that I have been speaking about so repeatedly. 
You know when we began, last Tuesday, to speak 
about the carnal and spiritual, I pointed out that 
there are two styles of Christian living. The one 
is that of the carnal Christian, who tries to be good 
but can't succeed. He always fails; temper and 
strife and sin get the better of him. The other is 
the spiritual Christian, who gets the victory. Just 
so here. There are people who are always com- 
plaining. Oh, I do desire to please God; it is my 
will and purpose to do His will, but I can't do it. 
They have not the strength. But there are other 
Christians, to whom Paul's words to the Philippians 
come as a reality. God works, not only to will, but 
He also works to do in them. Let us try to find out 
what the difference is between these two states; 
what the reason is that so many continue in the for- 
mer state; what the way is to get out of it into the 
second. Dear friends, don't 3^ou see clearly how 
much better the second life is than the first? A 



WIIvLING AND DOING. l75 

man always willing" but not succeeding- in doing", or 
a man both willing- and doing- — which is best? 
Kvery heart can give the answer. Let every heart 
pray, God reveal to me how I can get into this 
blessed life, willing and doing, both. 

Now, in speaking about this first stage, I just 
want to remind you of the place that the teaching 
in chapter seven has in the Epistle to the Romans. 
This morning we had the sixth chapter and we saw 
that Paul says there, to every believer, You are 
dead in Christ, you are alive in Christ, you must be- 
lieve it and reckon upon it and then come and pre- 
sent yourself to God. But that is only the begin- 
ning of the work of sanctifi cation. He goes on in 
the end of the chapter to tell them. Now begin at 
once and work that out; live for righteousness, as 
servants of righteousness, obeying God in every- 
thing. In the seventh chapter he tells them there 
is something more. After a man begins to try and 
obey God and live as God's servant in the perform- 
ance of righteousness, he comes to an unexpected 
experience. He finds that he fails, and so Paul, in 
the beginning of the seventh chapter, says to him, 
I have to tell you of something more and something 
better: you are not only dead to sin — everybody can 
understand that that ought to be — but you are 
actually dead to the law. The Christian answers, 
The law is good and holy, how can I be dead to the 
law? Paul tells him the law is indeed good and 
spiritual; but the law is unfitted for your state, be- 
cause you are sinful by nature and you cannot keep 
the law, and so the law just kills you. Your mis- 



176 THE SPIRITUAI. LIFE. 

take in the Christian life, after your conversion, is 
this: You try to keep the law and you always fail. 
The law was g-iven by God, at Sinai, to stir men up 
to their hig-hest activity, and urg-e them to do their 
very best, that they mig-ht learn that they must fail, 
and that they were utterly impotent. That was the 
work of the law—to convince men of their sinfulness. 
The believer, when he thinks, I am a reg-enerate 
man, I must try and keep the law, always fails, be- 
cause the law always calls you to self -effort; it stirs 
up self, and when self does its best it can do noth- 
ing-. And so Paul, here in the seventh chapter, 
tells us, you are not only dead to sin, as I told you 
in the sixth chapter, but you are actually dead to the 
law. He then g-oes on to teach us more about this. 
I want you, as you study the Epistle carefully, to 
note the teaching- of the second half of the seventh 
chapter. In the first division of the Epistle that I 
spoke of this morning- — chapters 1:18 to 5:11 — Paul 
had spoken about sins, sins in the plural, sinful 
acts, as transgressions, and justification had to do 
with them. But from the fifth chapter and the 
twelfth verse he does not talk any more about sins 
in the plural, but all about sin, s-i-n. Why? In the 
first half of the Epistle, when he was talking about 
justification, there he had to speak about sinful 
deeds, but here in the second half he is about to 
speak of the power of sin that works in us, and how 
that power is to be conquered. That is the reason 
why, in the second half of the seventh chapter, we 
enter on a new discussion of the subject of sin. The 
Epistle would have been terribly discouraging if we 



WII.I.ING AND DOING. 177 

had not had this seventh chapter. Some people are 
troubled about it, but I thank God exceeding-ly for 
it. What would it have helped me if Paul had, in 
the first chapter, told me all about sin, the sins of 
the heathen and the sins of the Jews, and pardon 
and justification in the blood of Christ, dying- for our 
sins, but had not told me about the power of sia in 
my own life? What would it have helped me if 
Paul had only told me about the sins of the uncon- 
verted man? As a believer, I want to know how 
about the sin of the converted man, sin in the re- 
generate man. And therefore the second half of 
Romans, seven, is indispensable to a rig-ht knowl- 
edge of the will of God, it teaches us the precious 
lesson of our impotence, as the way to full deliver- 
ance. I spoke, in one of the addresses, about there 
being needed two convictions of sin; a conviction of 
sin for the unconverted man to bring him to re- 
pentance and faith, and for the believer a convic- 
tion of sin and sinfulness to prepare him for full 
salvation. That is the apostle's teaching here in 
the second half of the seventh chapter. Dear 
friends, if you read it carefully, you will see that 
Paul is speaking there about the Christian who is a 
regenerate man, who delights in the law of God, 
longs to do what is right and good, and yet is not 
able. And why not? The answer is, simply be- 
cause he has not yielded to the Holy Spirit to work 
all in him. Notice in chapter seven, from the seventh 
verse, the name of Christ is not once mentioned 
except down at the very verse before the last, "I 
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." No- 



178 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

tice, the Holy Spirit is not mentioned. Notice, the 
man is speaking- always about the law. The word 
law occurs from twenty to thirty times. The man 
is always speaking about I and me. It is a regen- 
erate man, doing his very best to keep the law of 
God, but he fails utterly. That is just the life of 
the multitude of believers. They are sometimes 
doing their very best, trying hard, praying and cry- 
ing to God, Lord help me! but it does not help. 
What a change comes in the eighth chapter. Paul 
begins in the second verse, the law, the dominion of 
the Spirit, of the life in Christ has set me free from 
the dominion of sin and death. That is it. A new 
power comes in. The power of the Holy Ghost, to 
enable a man, not only to will, but to do the will of 
God. That is the transition from the first state to 
the second state. 

This second state you find described in Philippi- 
ans second, verses twelve and thirteen. '*Work out 
your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is 
God which worketh in you both to will and to do." I 
remember being very much struck by hearing a young 
missionary at the Cape, when he was preparing to 
leave the congregation from which we were sending 
him out, tell of something that had comforted him 
much. I think it was in a life of David Brainerd; 
he had read that when he had resolved to go to the 
mission field, someone said. Well, you are very will- 
ing to go, aren't you? Yes. But how do you know 
that you will succeed? How do you know that you 
will be able to hold out and that you won't turn 
]back? And his answer was this, Well, the God 



WIIvIyING AND DOING. 179 

who has g"iven the will, will give the power to per- 
form it. He works to will and to do. That is all 
we need to have in the Christian life. That is 
what I want to speak about to-nig^ht, that the same 
God who has g'iven the power to will, will also g-ive 
the power to do, so that a Christian need not always 
live complaining", I will, I will, but how to perform, 
I do not find. God will bring- a man to the place 
where, by the living- power of the Holy Ghost, he 
can do God's will and obey God's command. And 
that is the life we want. In Romans, seven, we 
have, as we said, the language of the renewed will. 
Some people think that it refers to the unregener- 
ate will, I cannot think that, the language is far 
too strong. In the first place, why should he intro- 
duce the condition of the unregenerate man between 
the sixth and eighth chapters, where he is entirely 
dealing with sanctification? It would be out of 
place. He is talking about sanctification and why 
should he put in this passage about the unregener- 
ate man? I cannot think it. But it is in its right 
place if he comes to tell me what is of far more in- 
terest to me than the state of the unconverted man, 
if he comes to tell me how things are in the heart 
of the converted man, this is exactly what I need to 
know. Therefore I take my text, "to will is present 
with me, but to perform I find not," as the 
language of the regenerate man, and I want to give 
you some simple lessons which I think these words 
teach us. 

And the first lesson is, the renewed will teaches 
me the power of regeneration. That God changes 



180 THK SPIRITUAL I^IFK. 

the heart and the will and the life and the desire of 
a man. He turns right from them, and the man 
who has loved sin, who has not loved God's will and 
God's law, a man who has loved himself and his 
own will and done it, that man is chang^ed entirely, 
and he begins to delight in the will of God. I am 
going to speak to you about the impotence and in- 
sufficiency of that renewed will to-night. But be- 
fore I do that, want to magnify that renewed will 
as the gift of the Everlasting God, and I want to 
say to yoUj Thank God, if you can honestly say, 
"Lord, with my whole heart I have purposed and 
sworn to do that will. " Never mind if you fail, never 
mind if you haven't got the strength to do it yet^ 
but hold on and say to God, "Lord, I delight in Thy 
will, I delight to do it and I want to do it." The re- 
newed will teaches me the power of regeneration. 
You find men trying to change their own hearts, 
to change their own wills, to change their inclina- 
tions, but they have found that they could not 
change it. But God changes it. I have read the 
story of a Christian woman losing her temper week 
after week, and going to her bed-room and praying 
and crying to God for deliverance, and telling how 
she did it for years and no deliverance came. The 
will was right, it has been so with many. That 
was evidence that God's work was in them, that 
they did not sit down with the thought, "Well, never 
mind, there is no great harm." But they never get 
rest in it. Their will was set upon doing the will 
of God, though they utterly failed in performing it. 
And therefore I say to you, my fellow Christians, 



WIIvIyING AND DOING. IBI 

thoug-h. you have not attained yet to the doing- of 
God's will, begin and hold fast that and say, I will 
what God wills. Say that. In affliction say, even 
thoug*h your heart tiembles and you cannot submit; 
thoug"h you cannot bring* your heart to do what you 
want and to be perfectly submissive; say, "Lord, I 
will what Thou wiliest. I g-ive up my will and I 
choose Thy will, thoug^h my heart refuses to rest." 
Or, with reg-ard to any sin that is troubling* you and 
conquering- you, say it to God, "Lord, I will to do 
what Thou hast commanded." This is my first les- 
son. The renewed will in my text teaches me the 
power of reg-eneration. 

But it teaches me, in the second place, the impo- 
tence and powerlessness of the reg-enerate man. 
Reg-eneration g-ives a man a new will, but the re- 
g-enerate man, after he has got the new will, is an 
impotent thing. And the great mischief in our 
churches and among our Christians is that they 
don't know that. People think. Well, I am regen- 
erate and I have the grace of God in me and I have 
got somewhat of God's Spirit in me and I ought to 
be able to do God's will, and they try and do their 
very best, and they fail. But here comes now the 
important lesson about the second blessing and the 
higher life, or the spiritual life, or whatever name 
you call it by, that God comes and tells the regen- 
erate man, "My son, I have given you a new will, 
but that new will, alone, cannot help you." Many 
a man thinks, If I were only fixed and firm in my 
will, I would be able to obey God. He groans and 
cries to God about it. He delights in the law of 



182 Thk spiritual lifK. 

God and yet he cannot do what he wants to do. 
Does that not teach me clearly that a regenerate 
man is an impotent man? Do I not see it everyday 
of my life? And are there not a hundred witnesses 
in this building", to-nig-ht, who can say it is so? 
There are some thing's that a man can't do; there 
are some thing's that he can't forsake; when you 
come to the daily temptations of the inner life, the 
reg"enerate man is an impotent man. There are 
men who, for thirty or forty years, have foug-ht 
ag-amst their temper and never conquered it, and 
they have admitted it with grief. There are men 
who have foug-ht for thirty or forty years against 
self-will and unloving-ness and they have never con- 
quered it. Why? Because the reg'enerate man is 
an impotent man as long- as he tries, in virtue of his 
reg'eneration,to serve God. 

Then comes my third thoug-ht. That the reg'en- 
erate man, if he is actuall}^ to do God's will, needs a 
new blessing-. Needs a new blessing-. Yes, that is 
the g-reat truth which the eig-hth chapter of Romans 
teaches us. Paul, in the seventh chapter, is silent 
about the Spirit, not a word abrut it. All about the 
law and the reg'enerate man who is under the law, 
still, trying' to obey the law. But then he comes in 
the eig-hth chapter and says, "Hoi the law, the 
power of the Spirit of life in Christ hath set me 
free from that law which took me captive and 
which prevented my doing- what I really willed to 
do." He says, "The Spirit of Christ does set me 
free." In chapter seven I have a man who is a cap- 
tive; in chapter eight, a man who has been set at 



Wii^tlNG And doing. 183 

liberty by God's Spirit. He g-oes oti to tell me that 
the Spirit of Christ enables me to walk after the 
Spirit; by the Spirit I can mortify the deeds of the 
body, so that I do not do any long^er what I do not 
want to. Oh, the blessedness of knowing- there is 
a second step! That second step need not be long* 
after conversion. It sometimes comes with conver- 
sion, when the Holy Spirit comes very mightily 
down upon a man and he at once begins to will and 
to do. But in the church as it is now, in most 
cases it does not come at once, and therefore we 
must preach to you, beloved brethren, that there is 
a different stage from that, on which most of us live. 
And what is that stag"e? That stage is when the 
Holy Spirit comes and fills the heart and a man be- 
lieves, not only God does work in me to will^ but 
God will work in me to do. Oh, the difference be- 
tween the willing and doing. Take a child. You 
g-ive a child a sum in arithmetic — a little boy of ten 
and he is so willing and he does work so hard, and 
he does his very best. The will is not wanting* but 
he can't do it. Ah, that is just the will of most 
Christians; you have not the power — you cannot do 
it. We learn here, from Paul, in chapter seven, 
that the man of whom he speaks hasn't it. But I 
can say something else. Oh, my brother, the Holy 
Spirit is the mighty power of God for doing", and if 
you will come and beg*in to say, My whole life must 
be entirely g-iven up to the Spirit of God, and I 
must allow the Spirit of God to take the place that 
I, with my own strength, have been trying to take. 
My whole life must be one of waiting upon the 



184 THE SPIRITUAI. LIFE. 

Spirit of God and rejoicing- in Him. Then God will 
give, not only to will but to do, also. Glory to God's 
name. Let us depend upon it and believe it and re- 
joice in it. *'It is God which worketh in you both 
to will and to do." 

You ask me, perhaps, why has God arranged 
it so that there are to be two separate stages, the 
willing and the doing? Wouldn't it have been 
better and more blessed if God, when He gave the 
will had given me the do at the same time? Why 
did not God give it to that man in Romans, seven? 
There is a divine reason for it and that reason is 
this: When an unconverted man comes to Christ 
and God asks that man, Will you live to do My will? 
The unconverted man cannot answer the question, 
because he does not understand what God's will is. 
He is blind. He thinks he knows what God's will 
is, but he cannot, in his unconverted state, know 
what the depth and purity of God's will is, and how 
the will of God reaches to the inmost being. A 
man, at conversion, cannot yet give a fully intelli- 
gent answer to the question. He does not know 
what it means when he says. Lord, I will do all 
Thou sayest. Israel, at Mount Sinai, said, "All 
that the Lord hath spoken, we will do," but they did 
not know what they were saying. Just so, when an 
unconverted man comes to conversion, he does not 
know what the will of God is. But after he is con- 
verted, then God gives him time, a year, or two 
years, or three years, and, as a regenerate man, he 
begins earnestly to try and do God's will. As a 
rule, he fails utterly. Then God comes and deals 



wii^tiNG And DoiNCi. 185 

with him a second time, and He says, My child, I 
g-ave you a new will to love My will and you thought 
you were able to do it; I want to cure you now en- 
tirely of self and self-confidence; I have allowed you 
to try your best and you have seen how you have 
utterly failed in the doing- of my will. Come now, 
a second time, and let me g-ive you a new blessing-. 
And if he asks. Father, what is this blessing-? 
Hast Thou not g-iven me the Holy Spirit? God 
answers Yes, thou art a temple of the Spirit and the 
Spirit is in thee, but thou hast never understood 
what it is to have thy whole being* entirely filled 
with the Spirit. Thou hast never understood what 
it is, all the day and every day to be entirely de- 
pendent upon the Holy Spirit. Thou hast never 
understood how fully and entirely I want thee, in 
everything-, to g-lorify Me. Come, my child, and I 
will have a second transaction with thee, and if 
thou wilt come and transact with Me, as thou didst 
at conversion, and with a new meaning- and a new 
depth and with new intensity of purpose, will yield 
thyself to Me, come and say. My God, I have beg-un 
to see what is wrong- and how I have failed. I now 
want to come and g-ive up everything- to Thee, I 
want to g-ive up self to Thee, I want to g-ive up self- 
confidence and self-effort. Then God will g-ive 
answer. My child, if thou art willing- to g-o down 
into the death of Jesus, to come to the end of self, I 
will g-ive the Holy Spirit fully in thee. Jesus had 
to pass throug-h the two stag-es. He was born the 
first time in Bethlehem, but He had to die. He had 
to give up the life of Bethlehem and He was born a 



186 thk spiri'tuai, life. 

second time out of the grave. He is called the first 
born from the dead, he was born from the grave into 
a new life, a life of victory. His first life was a 
life without sin, but a life of weakness and very 
little power, as compared with His life on the throne. 
And just so in your life, there can be these two 
stages. The first stage created in you a willing 
heart — brought you into the position of a child wish- 
ing to do God's will. My child may wish to do my 
will, but he is unable to do it. He must grow up 
into a strong man, at twenty-one he comes of age, 
and then he can do it. God does not require twenty- 
one years to do His will, and He sometimes gives it 
to His child at conversion. But when the church is 
in such a feeble state as it now is, you find men liv- 
ing as Christians forty or fifty years without it. I 
come, to-night, to plead with you and to say, God is 
willing, my brother, to lift you out of the lower to 
the higher stage, where you can -will and do^ both. 
Don't you understand it is an absolute necessity? 
God must train us gradually, and God wants us to 
come to a right sense of our sinfulness and to a 
right sense of our utter helplessness; when He has 
so prepared us. He will make true, full Christians 
of us, with the Holy Spirit dwelling and ruling in 
us. 

This brings me now to my fourth thought, and 
that is the question, Wherein consists the secret of 
entering into this second blessing? My answer is 
simply, entire dependence upon God. Let us now 
look at the text in Philippians, "Work out your own 
salvation, for it is God which worketh in you to will 



WII<tINa AND DOINCi* l87 

and to do." Now just listen a moment. Which of 
these thing's must come first? ''^Work out your own 
salvation, for it is God that worketh in you. Which 
of the two must come first? Of course God works 
in you. Work you because God is working". Work 
you stands g-rammatically before God ivorks^ but 
really and spiritually it comes after. Paul says, 
God works, now you work. And, oh friends, what 
is the g-reat reason that you try to work and you 
cannot, that you will and cannot perform? Because 
you do not believe in the working of God. You 
try in your own streng'th to work. You take one 
half of the text, "Work out your own salvation," 
and you try hard but you fail. Why? Because you 
do not take the first half— the foundation— work you 
because God is working- in you, both to will and to 
do. What God wants is to bring" us there where we 
let Him work. That is what we had yesterday 
about Christ bringing" us to God. That is what we 
had this morning about our, when we are alive from 
the dead, at once coming and presenting ourselves 
unto God. Don't you begin to see that God must 
take a much larger and higher place in our life. If 
I want, not only to will, but also to do, then the 
Holy Spirit must teach me to come and wait upon 
God with a dependence and with a helplessness and 
with a patience that I never exercised before. I 
must understand that every day of my life God must, 
directly from heaven, by the operation of His Holy 
Spirit, Himself do the working in me. Do you see 
that? Work for God worketh in you to will and to 
do. Ah, it is no wonder that we will so much and 



188 THEj SPIRll^tJAt tiF^. 

do SO little in the spiritual life, and that our life is 
so full of failure. God has not the place that God 
must have. It is not wrong" that the whole heart of 
the sinner is occupied with Christ, for Christ wants 
to g-et hold of him and to win his love and to take 
him to Himself. But, when once I am converted 
and in the hands of Christ, Christ wants to bring* 
me on a step and to bring me to God that I may re- 
ceive from God everything* just as Christ did Him- 
self. Christ's whole life — we saw that yesterday 
morning — was dependence, dependence, dependence 
upon God and nothing else. Kvery morning and 
every night, from Bethlehem to Calvary, dependence 
upon God. And if Christ is living in me, and if my 
life is to be the life of Christ, and if my life is to be 
a life of power and of fruit and of work, I must let 
God work both to will and to do of His good plea- 
sure. Dear Christian friends, I ask myself, some- 
times, "Is not the reason of all the weakness in the 
church of Christ just this: people do not know their 
God?" In the prophet Daniel we read that people 
who know their God shall be strong and do exploits. 
You must know your God. Your God is the great 
power in the universe that works everything. He 
keeps the sun shining. He keeps every little grass 
green. It is God that clothes the lilies with their 
beauty. How does He do it? Not from without, 
not from above, away at a distance, but He gives 
His life into the beautiful lily as it grows. God is 
everywhere present in nature; and God wants to be 
much more distinctly and really, practically present 
in the heart of the believer. But we do not know it 



WILWNG AND DOING. 189 

and we do not think about it. Why? It is because 
we do not listen to His word. God worketh in you, 
and we do not let His Spirit teach us what God 
would do for us. Therefore, the question comes to 
us with unutterable solemnity. Does not the renewed 
will call us, call all of us, to a life of more dependence 
on God? Dear friends, if we will consent to live a 
life of nothing-ness, waiting upon the living* God, 
He will work both to will and to do according to His 
good pleasure. 

And now my last thought: How to enter into this 
blessing'. My first thought was, the renewed will 
proves the power of regeneration; it proves the im- 
po.tence of the regenerate man and it proves the need 
of something new, a second blessing. And now the 
last thought: How are we to enter upon the bless- 
ing? Is there for us a prospect of real obedience? 
The man in Romans seven had no real obedience. 
His heart was right, he was honest, but he failed. 
It was just the condition of the disciples before 
Pentecost. You know their hearts were right. 
Peter's heart was right when he said, '^Lord, I will 
go to prison and to death with Thee." He loved 
Jesus, he was honest, and that is why Christ did not 
reject him. He was honest but impotent, full of 
self-confidence and he deceived himself. There was 
the will, but he could not perform. Look at Geth- 
semane. Christ said of His disciples when He f outi d 
them sleeping, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh 
is weak." A word of the deepest spiritual sig- 
nificance. *'My beloved disciples, there is in you a 
spirit that is willing. You love Me and want to 



190 THK SPIRITUAI< LIFK. 

watch with Me, but the flesh is too strong*, and you 
can't do it. The power of the spirit has not yet con- 
quered the power of the flesh." But when the Holy 
Ghost came at Pentecost, the power of the Spirit 
conquered the flesh, and they were able to do any- 
thing-, even thoug-h they had to suffer for Jesus. 
Dear friends, how can we enter into this blessing"? 
There is one step. One thing- is needful, and what 
is that? Giving- up our life to God. Can we do it 
to-nig-ht? Yes, we can, if the heart is prepared. 
Just think now for a moment back and ask yourself, 
Has the picture of Romans seven been your pho- 
tog-raph; have you not had to say, "That is exactly 
my condition?*' Give answer. When the man 
cries, here: "To will is present with me, but how to 
perform I know not," has not that been true of your 
life very larg-ely? Come, say so if it is before God. 
And say, "Alas! alas! too much that has been my 
life." Well, do you want to remain in that con- 
dition? Or, would you love to come to a life in 
which God will work in you both to will and to do^ 
so that when God makes you will anything- that is 
g-ood, you may be certain that God will help you 
carry it out? God will work to do in you all thing's 
good. Do you long* for that? Would not you long-, 
beloved Christians, to do the blessed will of God? 
"Blessed are the}- that hear the word of God and do 
it." Oh, the blessedness of knowing that I do the 
will of God! Do you not long for that blessed life? 
Well, now you have heard about the impotence of the 
regenerate man. Don't try any longer to flog and 
spur and urge yourself with the thought, you must 



WILING AND DOING. 191 

try more, you must do better, you must pray more. 
It will not help you in this matter. You must come 
to despair of your present condition. Here am I, a 
child of God, knowing- and loving- God's will, want- 
ing- to do it, long-ing- to do it and yet failing-. Is 
there no help for me? Thank God, there is help. 
And here is the help, Phil. 2:13: "It is God which 
worketh in you both to will and to do." "Work out 
your own salvation with fear and trembling-," for 
God will work in you. And isn't that the one step 
I am to-nig-ht to take, out of the life of failure and 
the life of wrong--doing- and the life of Romans, 
seven, so that I cry, "O wretched man that I am, 
who shall deliver?" and that I cry, "I thank God, 
throug-h Jesus Christ there is deliverance?" Is that 
not the step? And then as I say, "I thank God," 
that I come and present myself to God, again, as we 
had it this morning-, as alive from the dead, and I 
say, "lyord God, now I beg-in to understand it; as 
alive from the dead I must present myself to Thee, 
every day and every hour, for the power must come 
from Thee, alone. When Thou hadst placed the 
will in me and the delig-ht in the law of my God, I 
thought that that was all, and that now I must try 
and carry it out. How I have failed. Now I come 
and present myself unto God, unto God, Himself " 
We heard this morning why. We heard this morn- 
ing how, in thanksgiving, in entire surrender to be 
entirely His, but above all in holy expectancy, we 
are to say to God, "This life was begun by Thee 
and must be continued by Thee every minute." A 
tree can only live on the root from which it springs. 



192 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

If an oak spring-s, to-daj, from an acorn, the oak 
can stand a hundred years, but it must always stand 
in the root from which it spring's up to-day. And 
so, if your new life has sprung" up from God, it can 
only root in God every day, and unless there is con- 
tact with God every moment, and unless there is the 
filling" from God every moment, to work the do in 
you, your life must be feeble. Oh come. Christian, 
and say, though God reg^enerated me, and g"ave me 
a new heart and a new will, that is not enoug"h. 
God must g"ive me, and He will g"ive me, the power 
to carry out the new will. God will do it. Oh 
come, let us surrender ourselves to God this very 
night, and enter into a covenant with Him. Dear 
friends, let us come. Let us plead for pardon, let us 
surrender ourselves and trust for mercy. I do not 
know if all are prepared for it, I do not know if the 
majority are prepared for it. But if there were only 
ten souls here, to-night, who have begun to say, "I 
see there is a second blessing, I see there is a life of 
liberty and victory, I see there is a life, not only of 
willing, but of actual performance, I see there is a 
life of power, in which the Holy Ghost comes and 
enables a man to do God's will; I want that life,'' 
let them say, "Lord, accept of me, Lord, fulfill now 
in me, Thy word. I believe Thou wilt henceforth 
work in me to will and to do. Amen. 



YIKI<D YOURSKlyVKS UNTO GOD. 193 



44 



JSielD ^orxvBClvcB xanto aoD/* 



It is of great consequence that we keep very clear- 
ly before our eyes what the object of our gathering- 
is. We look at the state of God's church, at the 
great majority of Christians, and hear them com- 
plain of their feebleness and continual failure, and 
we want to ask the question. Is there not, in God's 
word, sufficient provision to enable a child of God to 
live a spiritual, humble life of victory all along the 
line ? We want to ask this question regarding our- 
selves. So many of us have to say, **I know that 
Christ is an Almighty Saviour. T/ial I believe, but 
He does not prove to bean Almighty Saviour to me." 
Is that not the position toward God many of us oc- 
cupy. There are elementary truths that we think 
we can live by. What there is in God's word for 
making strong Christians has been too often re- 
garded as applicable to the few who we think are 
called to a special service. And so many want to 
get all the religion and happiness they can with as 



194 THE SPIRITUAL WFB. \ 

little of sacrifice as possible. They don't understand 
that just as a man who wants to come out first in an 
examination, or to take a good place in a profession 
or business, must go at it with his whole heart, and 
give his time and strength to it, so religion requires 
a man to give up everything to know God in Christ. 
Your first business is to be a man of God as God 
wants you to be. You will never regret it. We 
cannot be first-rate, thoroughgoing Christians with- 
out giving a great deal of concentrated, intense at- 
tention to it, and waiting on God to make us as 
Christ was. Christ did not become what He was 
without giving up everything; the twelve apostles 
had to give up everything. Dear friends, if we give 
up ourselves entirely to God's training then we can 
become strong Christians. 

When I look upon the state of the church in Eng- 
land and elsewhere, I feel sure that God will have to 
call out a number of people to separate themselves 
from everything, give themselves up entirely, just 
as Jesus did, to getting the fullest possible experi- 
ence of the love and will of God; through such men 
God will be able to bless His other children. God 
comes to this company with the question. Are you 
desirous to be, and to do, and to have, the very ut- 
most that God can give you ? There are some hearts 
who say. Yes. I invite you to listen to a portion of 
God's word that you all know. You will find the 
words in Rom. 6: 13. Bible students know that this 
text is found in the second of the four great divis- 
ions of the Epistle to the Romans. The first divis- 
ion, from 1: 16 to 5: 11, righteousness by faith. The 



YIKI<D YOURSKI.VKS UNTO GOD. 195 

second division is from Chap. 5: 12 to the end of 
Chap. 8, life by faith. Third division, Chaps. 9, 10 
and 11, the mystery of faith; the deep mystery of 
God's purpose and council with mankind. And 
then from Chap. 12 to the end you have the walk oj 
faith. Now, here we have the life of faith. You 
know the words in Habakkuk that Paul takes as the 
text of his Kpistle, "The just shall live by faith." 
Faith gives two thing-s, faith g'ives righteousness 
and faith gives life. These two things have been 
separated in the first part of the Kpistle. Paul be- 
gins by explaining the righteousness of faith, how 
we are justified. Then he points out what the 
ground is of that justification by faith, and that is 
our living union with Christ. People often ask. Is 
it right in God to take Christ and lay our sin upon 
Him, and to take me, the guilty one, and pardon for 
the sake of One who died. God does not justify me 
for the righteousness of Christ as long as I have no 
part in it. Christ is one body with me; I am in Him 
by faith. He becomes vitally connected with me. 
We don't count it strange if we take a twig from a 
tree or seed and plant it, that the tree that springs 
from it is of the same nature. So it is not strange 
that when Adam fell and died I should share his sin. 
It is most natural. And so if Christ and I are one 
it is not strange that God should justify me in 
Christ. But the believer must not only know that 
he is justified but must know that he is in Christ. 
Chap. 5: 12 Paul begins his great argument to prove 
how we have not only righteousness, but life in 
Christ. Just as we died in Adam so we may live in 



196 THE SPIRITUAI. LIFE. 

Christ; those who receive the g^ift of rig-hteousness, 
the J reign in life; from Christ they have not only 
pardon and acceptance but victory; they are not only 
saved, but made kings unto God. After having laid 
this foundation in the second part of Chap. 5, he 
goes on in Chap. 6 to explain this further; to tell us 
the only way to conquer sin is to know our union 
with Christ. Justification does not deal with the 
question, how I can conquer sin, but deals with the 
question. How can I be delivered from past sin and 
get right with God? It is quite another question. 
How am I to conquer sin? His answer is, "Shall 
we sin that grace may abound ? God forbid. How 
shall we who are dead to sin live any longer there- 
in ?" Paul says, Know you not that when you were 
baptized into Christ you were baptized into His 
death. You were made partakers of His death. You 
were united with Him in the likeness of His death; 
therefore reckon yourselves as indeed dead to sin. 
You are dead to sin because you are one with the 
Christ who died to sin. You say to an unconverted 
man. You are dead in sin; you are dead to God. 
How did he become dead? He died. How did he 
die ? He died in Adam. Every one of us died in 
Adam, and the life that we get from Adam is dead 
to God. Just so, when I believe in Christ, I get a 
life in Christ dead to sin, the very life of Christ who 
died on Calvary, that life dead to sin, raised up by 
the glory of God, that life is in me. And Paul says 
you have got to believe that until your whole heart 
becomes full of it, and cries out, Praise God, I am 
dead to sin; the living Christ is in me, I am alive 



YIKLD YOURSKI.VES UNTO GOD. 197 

unto God in Christ Jesus. After having- expounded 
this, Paul says, *' Reckon," count, yourselves dead, 
actually dead, dead to sin; for you are dead, and 
alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Then follows, 
*' Therefore," what must be the result, ''Let not sin 
therefore reign in you." You have done with sin, 
you are dead to sin; let not sin any more reign in 
your mortal body. Tou are dead to sin, but your 
body is not dead yet, and sin can tempt you, and 
though you are dead to sin you can be tempted and 
mastered through the body. So yield your members 
to God, and let the Holy Spirit mortify the deeds of 
the body. "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." 
Why is it believers let sin reign in their mortal bod- 
ies ? Because they do not understand or accept this 
truth in Rom. 6: 11: ^^2^ou are dead to sin and alive 
to God, Let not sin reign in your mortal body. 
Nor yield your members." You have got the power 
of Christ's life in you; don't yield your lives to un- 
righteousness, or your members as instruments of 
unrighteousness unto sin — now comes my text — 
'"'' But yield yourselves unto God as alive from the 
dead^ and your members as instruments of righteous- 
ness unto God.'''* If the believer wants to know what 
is the position he has to take before God to know 
whether he can conquer sin, he will find it in these 
words, ' ' Present yourselves unto God as alive from 
the dead, and present your members as instruments 
of righteousness unto God." Paul will show in the 
7th chapter that even when I am dead to sin I may 
be tempted to get into a legal state, and by self-ef- 
fort and self-struggling may begin trying to fulfill 



198 THK SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

the law; but it will be utter failure. He will then 
take us on to the 8th chapter, and will show us that 
by the Holy Spirit all that is taught in chapters 6 
and 7 can be made a reality to us, and that the Holy 
Spirit will make the death and life of Christ a liv- 
ing- reality. So our great need is to be freed by the 
Spirit, from the law of sin and death, and also led 
by it to mortify the deeds of the body. But if we 
want it made clear to us how we are to live that 
blessed life in the Spirit, we must first understand 
what it means. "Yield yourselves unto God." 
Present yourselves as alive from the dead. In 
speaking on these words I wish to answer three 
questions, — Who? How? Why? 

1. Who are to do this, — to present themselves 
unto God as alive from the dead ? This is the les- 
son, ''Present yourselves unto God as alive from 
the dead." A man can truly present or yield him- 
self to God only as he knows he is alive from the 
dead. If a man thinks he is a Christian, but that 
the larger part of his nature is sin, that there is a 
little spark of life amid a mass of what is sinful, he 
cannot make a properpresentationof himself to God. 
The secret and the strength of your yielding your- 
self to God lies in this: / am alive from the dead. 
Many people trouble themselves greatly to appre- 
hend intellectually the expression, **Dead to sin 
and alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Let us far 
rather accept it in the faith that God knows its full 
meaning, and obey the injunction of our text, to 
present ourselves to God as alive from the dead. 
You can understand that if I am alive from the dead 



^iBtD YOURSKI^VKS tJN'TO GOD. 199 

then it is no more than right, and indeed the only 
rig-ht thing- that I should say, '*L,ord, I have gfot 
this life from Thee; I cannot keep it or maintain it, 
I come to Thee with it." However much of dark- 
ness or ignorance, dear believer, do come and say, 
*'Lord God, this is all Thy life; Thou hast given it 
me to Christ; it is Thine own life, I present it unto 
Thee; I yield myself unto Thee as alive from the 
dead.^^ Present yourselves unto God. You know 
what I said yesterday morning about Christ bring- 
ing us unto God. That is the same thing in an- 
other form. The whole object of Christ's work is 
to bring us near to God. And the first thing the 
apostle gives us to do, when he has taught us how, 
after dying with Christ, we have been raised with 
Him, is to come with this new life and hri^ig it unto 
God. The object for which Christ died was to get 
us very near to God and into fellowship with Him. 
Present yourselves unto God. How often have I 
to do it ? It must be every moment. It must become 
a habit of my life. I have to do it every day, until 
the consciousness takes possession of me, I have a 
divine life from God; I bring it to God because God 
does not give me life in myself that I can have as a 
possession, that I have as my own, but as His life 
working in me only so far as I yield to Him and abide 
in communion with Him. Ye who are alive from the 
dead, present yourselves unto God; do it every day 
until your whole soul is filled with the living faith 
of your true position. The everlasting God has be- 
gun a life in me, and is carrying it on every moment 
of the day; every moment I can count that God will 



200 THK SPIRITUAL LIFK. 

maintain it. Don't you see that we have been too 
much g'uilty of breaking* off the connection with 
God, and our life is in broken communion ? If I can 
learn to walk all the day in God's presence, present- 
ing* myself unto Him as alive from the dead, God 
will make the resurrection life of Christ to work in 
me day and nig-ht, secretly, quietly, g-ently, and ef- 
fectively. You that are justified, you that know 
you have life in Christ, present yourselves unto God. 
Everything must come from Him. We now know 
who are those who have to do it — those that are 
alive from the dead. What are the marks of those 
that are alive? God's life is no mere imag"ination, 
thoug-ht, conception; it is a great reality. Remem- 
ber that this life must bear two marks. It is a life 
that has been dead and a life that is now alive from 
the dead. These are the marks of Christ's life in 
heaven. In Revelation He says, "I am He that 
liveth and was dead, and am alive for evermore." 
The life of Christ in g"lory is ever a life from the 
dead. In heaven they ever sing the song of the 
Lamb and the praise of His blood. If the death 
and the life are linked together there, it must be so 
too in the believer here. There must be the mark 
of death and the mark of life. What are the marks 
of death ? The death marks of Jesus, the disposi- 
tion which took Him to death, we know — humility. 
He humbled Himself and gave Himself up to death. 
Humility is one of the death marks in the believer. 
Death to sin, separation from all sin, is another 
mark. Another death mark is separation from the 
world, to be crucified to the world. Then there is 



YlKl.r> YOURSElyVKS UNTO GOD. 201 

deep impotence, helplessness. When Christ went 
down into the grave He was helpless. And this is 
perfect restf ulness. He rested in the grave in hope. 
In the believer who is really dead in Christ you will 
find these marks. 

You will find very deep humility. I am nothing" 
but a redeemed sinner, nothing- but a creature in 
whom God can work His g"lory It was humility 
that led Christ to the death, and humility will be 
the death mark in every one that has died in Christ 
Jesus. 

Separation from all sin. Christ died to sin; died 
rather than yield to sin. An intense desire to be 
free from every sin; the readiness to g"ive up life 
rather than sin; counting all things but loss to be 
made conformable to His death, are the marks of a 
life that roots in the death of Christ. 

Separation from the world. A man feels, I belong 
to another sphere, I am living in eternity. I am 
living with God. I am separate from the world. 1 
may have to do my work because I am in the world, 
but I am not of the world as Christ was not of the 
world. 

Along with that, another mark is impotence; 
nothing of self-effort. We ever try to do something 
of ourselves instead of taking our place at the foot 
of the throne so that God can work in us. The 
deeper the Spirit of Christ's death enters us, the 
more we shall be willing to be nothing, that God 
may be and may work all. 

The last mark is restfulness. In the grave Jesus 
rested. He gave up His Spirit and rested in the 



202 THE SPIRITUAL LIF^. 

grave. The death mark of the believer is deep rest- 
fulness- Jesus knew God would fulfill His work. 
As the believer advances he learns to rest perfectly 
in his God. 

On the other side, let us look at the life marks. 

The first life mark is victory. Jesus has con- 
quered death and hell, and we are more than con- 
querors throug-h Him that loved us. Another life 
mark is joy. It was for the joy that was set before 
Him He endured the cross. Deliverance g-ives joy. 
If we would be filled with the resurrection joy, the 
joy of triumph over sin and death, we have it in 
Christ. It is ours because we are alive from the 
dead. Resurrection life is in us. The living- Christ 
is living in us. How little is the joy of the world 
compared to the deep joy of redemption filling- our 
souls. 

Another mark is the power of blessing-. The 
Lord Jesus rose from the dead and beg-an to bless. 
The first nig-ht He breathed His Spirit upon the dis- 
ciples. On the day of His resurrection there was 
blessing", and in the outpouring- of His Spirit this 
dispensation became one of divine, infinite blessing-. 
If you are living in Christ, your resurrection life 
will be one of blessing to others. 

Present yourselves unto God, all that are alive 
from the dead. Present yourself by the Holy Spirit 
and ask God to make the death marks more clear 
and the life marks more beautiful, and your whole 
life will be from God and before God as of those 
alive from the dead. Say, "I have died; I have been 
crucified with Christ. God has raised me;" and the 



VIEI.D YOURSEJIvVKS UNTO GOD. 203 

more intensely you present yourselves to God in that 
life, the more intensely will it manifest itself in your 
daily life. A life out of death, a life of victory, the 
resurrection life in Christ will be yours in truth; you 
will begin to walk before God as one alive from the 
dead. With Christ I go down into the grave, give 
up myself as lost; God raises me up in Christ and 
makes me alive from the dead. Yield up yourselves, 
believers, to know Christ. You are alive from the 
dead; accept it in faith. Yield yourselves, present 
yourselves unto God. 

Second question: How are we to do this? Note 
here very carefully how the apostle answers it. He 
makes a difference between myself and my members. 
He says, ^^Yield yourselves unto God as those that 
are alive from the dead, and your members as instru- 
ments of righteousness unto God." What is that 
difference? We find in the 6th, 7th and 8th chap- 
ters the difference occurs continually between the 
new life, the renewed self, and the body or the mem- 
bers. Sin is continually represented as having 
power in the members of the believer after he him- 
self has been made alive from the dead; so Paul 
says, in Rom. 7, *' In me, that is in my flesh, dwell- 
eth no good thing. If I do that which I would not 
it is not I, but sin, that dwelleth in me." Paul 
speaks of the center of his life as the renewed '*I." 
The "I" has been regenerated. The **I" is alive 
now in Christ. It is that "I" of which he says: "I 
have died to sin, I am alive to God. It is not I but 
sin." That new "I" dwells in the body with its 
members. Sin is in my flesh, so I find the law of sin 



204 THE SPIRITUAI. LIFE. 

in my members, that leads me into captivity to the 
law of sin and death. It is a saved man who says, 
"I delight in the law of God after the inward man." 
It is not I who sins; my will utterly loathes the sin, 
but this body of death is full of sin. I am impotent 
and am taken captive. And then Paul says the 
reason is that he was trying" to obey the law in his 
own strength but failed. This leads me on to chap- 
ter 8, where you get at once the deliverance of the 
Holy Spirit, who personally works in you what 
Christ has done, and sets you free from the law of 
sin and death in your members, and enables you, 
through the Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the body, 
It is in this sense he says, "Yield yourself unto God 
as alive from the dead, and your members as instru- 
ments of righteousness unto God." He does not say 
the members are alive from the dead. You as the 
living one are to present them to God. You ask 
how you are to bring your members into subjection, 
to yield them as instruments of righteousness unto 
God. I must not only try as a spiritual man to say: 
Lord, here is my self, my inmost heart and love; 
but I must take my members, my flesh, my body, in 
which is the power of sin, and I must say, "Lord, 
these members I give up to Thee as instruments of 
righteousness." Before Paul comes to the beautiful 
teaching of the first part of chapter 7 he wants you 
to take up this word. From the 16th verse of the 
6th chapter he amplifies it in a very practical pass- 
age of the utmost importance. In it the three words 
are found — righteotiS7iess^ ohey^ service> These words 
occur repeatedly. The lesson is this: After you 



YIKI.D YOURSKI.VKS UNTO GOD. 205 

have accepted the first half of Rom. 6 there is a 
great deal of spiritual teaching in Rom. 7 and 8, to 
which you are to be led on. But in between he in- 
troduces this practical parenthesis: If you are alive 
from the dead; if you have yielded yourselves to God 
beg-in at once and take these three words and bring 
them into practice. Righteousness, You have been 
declared righteous by God that you may live in prac- 
tical righteousness upon earth. Be careful. If you 
are going to live as alive from the dead do not sin. 
Do not ask the question, How far can I go and not 
sin, but take simply what God says, Sin not. Say, 
I am going to live for the highest righteousness. 
Righteousness is the very foundation of God's 
throne; it must be so too in the Christian life. Do 
not seek beautiful spiritual thoughts and experi- 
ences when you speak of being dead and alive in 
Christ, but come at once and yield every member to 
be nothing but an instrument of righteousness. 

There is the second word, serve* You are to be 
the servant of righteousness. A man can sometimes 
be in the position of a servant, and yet act as if he 
were master. We need the deep conviction, I have 
been delivered from the service of sin to become a 
servant of God and His righteousness. As we yield 
ourselves to God daily it must be with the one desire, 
to keep the place of servants before Him. Our Jesus 
took the form of a servant; that was His life, and 
made Him the Father's delight. That must be our 
Spirit. 

One word more. I have sometimes got a favorite 
servant who works hard, but often works in his own 



206 THK SPIRITUAI. LIFK. 

way instead of carefully obeying my will. Remem- 
ber, you are not only to live as a servant but as one 
who obeys^ who waits daily upon God to find out 
His will, and who works righteousness, not accord- 
ing to his own but according to God's thoughts. 

If you walk in the path you will understand the 
answer to the question, How am I to present my- 
self ? You will yield yourselves, your inmost being, 
as renewed in Christ, as alive from the dead unto 
God, and bring your members each time and present 
each one of them, each power and movement of your 
being to God, as an instrument of righteousness. 
And your inner life with God will be manifested in 
your conversation among men. 

Last question. Why ought we thus to present 
ourselves to God and our members as instruments of 
righteousness. I can only rery hastily say a few 
words on this. Let it be a presentation of thanks- 
giving, dear believer. Every time you think of it, 
*'I am alive from the dead," let your heart rise up 
with wonderful thanksgiving. Present yourself 
unto God, yield your body, soul, and spirit a living 
sacrifice. Is that not a privilege, an unspeakable 
honor? You may walk in the sunshine of God's 
love with God, in the gladness that says, I offer my- 
self just out of deep gratitude for the life of Christ. 
I am alive from the dead. Oh beloved, if you would 
have the joy of God's heaven in your heart praise Him 
for the wonderful mystery of the resurrection of 
Christ in you. You dead with Christ and alive with 
Christ, present yourselves to God in praise. 

Present yourself in surrender. I am not my own, 



YIKI*D YOURSKI<VKS UNTO GOD. 207 

I have been bought with the blood. I have been 
paid for. I present myself as belong-ing- to God. 
Christ suffered that He mig-ht bring- us to God. 
Christ died; we died with Him; God made us alive 
with Him, that we might serve God, Give yourself 
up in absolute surrender. Have nothing- in your 
members, your conduct, your temper, that is not 
entirely subjected to the life of God. Bring all, 
every day, to God, that by His Holy Spirit the death 
in Christ may be fully manifested in you. Bring 
everything you have, dear friends, your mind, your 
power of thought, your heart, your love, your joy; 
bring everything and lay it before God. Have you 
ever thought of Jesus after God had raised Him 
from the dead? If He had turned away from 
heaven and gone to live in the world what would 
have become of us ? Shall we do it ? Shall we dare 
to do it, to lire worldly lives, to live sinful lives ? 
Shall we do it after we have been raised from the 
dead? Shall we not say, I present myself to God, 
that He do with me only what pleases Him. 

Let it not only be a presentation of thanksgiving and 
surrender, but also one of holy spiritual expectancy. 
I said, at the beginning, in regard to this life from 
the dead, that we do not know how to keep it or 
maintain it. But if God has begun the work He 
will continue it. If He has given it He will main- 
tain it; the life God bestowed, in resurrection. He 
will perfect. He waits for you every day to present 
yourself as alive from the dead; to bring every mem- 
ber as an instrument of righteousness, and to have 
large expectations of what your God will do for you. 



208 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

Do believe with your whole heart, my brother, that 
God is able and willing- to lead you to live upon 
earth as a living" Lazarus, raised from the dead by 
the mighty power and to the glory of God. He can 
enable you every day to live the resurrection life. 
Do believe that. Only remember this, you must in 
Christ present yourself every day to God in holy ex- 
pectancy, waiting for Him to work in you, waiting- 
on Him in faith to answer prayer in which you ex- 
press your surrender to God. ' 

This brings me back in closing- to where we were 
yesterday morning. Christ suffered that He might 
bring us unto God. Let this be your one object, as 
you reckon yourselves as alive from the dead, dead 
to self and alive with Jesus, let it be your one ob- 
ject to get near to God. We want more time in se-' 
cret prayer if the resurrection life is to work in power; 
more time alone with God for God to perfect His 
work in me. Believer, yield yourself unto God. 
Let your life bear the stamp; ask God to write it in 
your heart, a God-yielded man, a God-devoted man, 
that God may perfect the life He beg-an in Christ. 
It will be a life of victory, of joy, of blessing, to live 
as a God-yielded man, waiting continually upon God 
to work His work perfectly in you. Let us believe 
that all this is indeed for each one here. Shall we 
not trust God by His Holy Spirit to make it true? 
He uses the words of the speaker. They may be 
feeble but He uses even these thoughts to make His 
own precious word true in actual reality in our souls. 
Shall we not trust God for it? Shall we not trust 
God that the Holy Spirit does set us free from the 



YIE1.D YOURSELVES UNTO GOD. 209 

law of sin and death in our members; that the Holy 
Spirit does give us strength to mortify the deeds of 
the body, so that our lives shall indeed be as those 
walking in Christ and walking in the Spirit, monu- 
ments of the power of God who quickened the dead, 
and makes us conformable to His blessed Son. 



210 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 



5e6U6 Bble to TReep. 



In the second Epistle to Timothy, the first chap- 
ter and the twelfth verse, you have these words: "I 
know whom I have believed and am persuaded that 
He is able to keep that which I have committed unto 
Him against that day." 

I chose that text under the impression that, for 
many, this would be our last g*athering-, as all can- 
not come to-morrow morning-. And I thoug-ht that 
if in any heart a desire had been stirred, during- our 
meetings, to enter the blessed life, that this word 
might help them, to-night, for it will lead us up to 
a simple act of committal and consecration. But, 
this morning, I got a request from some twelve or 
fifteen brethren in the ministry, or in the work of 
God, asking me to give a testimony as to my own 
personal experience in the Christian life. And be- 
fore I speak of these words I want, in a few short 
sentences, to tell you how God has led me. What 
God has done to me is not mine but His own, and if 



JKSUS ABI,:^ TO KEKP. 211 

it can help you, I cannot withhold it. And yet, I 
am somewhat reluctant to speak of my experience, 
for this reason: When a man has got a clear, dis- 
tinct experience to tell and a very definite story 
about something- God has done for him, a clear pass- 
ing out of one state of the Christian life into an- 
other, it is often very helpful and very stirring". 
But that is not my story. I was away in South 
Africa, almost alone, and I had to fig-ht and stumble 
my way along*, and owing" to that I had no such 
clear path as I could have wished for; but let me tell 
you. 

If I speak of my life, my Christian life, the first 
fifteen years, perhaps, I call a time of darkness and 
of strug-gling after the light. I could divide my 
Christian life into three periods: The time of dark- 
ness, the time of the vision of the light and then 
the time of the richer experience. I was, as a young 
minister, most earnest. I was counted a most faith- 
ful gospel preacher, and I was diligent in the enor- 
mous parish that was entrusted to me. I loved my 
work and yet all the time my spiritual life was one 
of deep unhappiness. I was bound in the chains of 
misapprehension and prejudice. One thing that I 
thought was that a Christian must go on sinning 
every day. I really thought that this was a must. 
As a result of that, I had no definite expectation 
that God would keep me from it. I am sorry to say 
that that was my belief, and then along with that I 
had no conception that obedience was a possible 
thing. I look back with shame when, in later 
jears, I began to see the place that obedience ought 



212 THE SPIRITUAI. I.IFE. 

to take in a Christian life. I remember how little 
I understood that — that Christianity is to g-ive up 
your self to entire obedience to God. I never saw it. 
And then, along- with that, I had no real faith in 
the keeping-, sanctifying- power of God's Holy Spirit 
or of Jesus Christ. Yet I was most earnest, study- 
ing- the matter of sanctification, praying- about it, 
but I g-ot very little lig-ht. But it was a time on 
which God looked with mercy, for it was a time of 
great desire and often of crying- to God, and God 
hears cries. Let me say, for the help of anyone 
who is in that state of desire, that there was a little 
story that helped me wonderfully, at that time. 
There is a book in Eng-lish, "Parables from Nature," 
by Mrs Gatty. One of these parables is this: She 
represents a number of crickets meeting- and talk- 
ing- tog-ether. You know there are different sorts of 
crickets, the field cricket and the g-rass cricket and 
the tree cricket and so on. The crickets were com- 
paring- notes and one said, "O, I had to seek a long- 
time till I found a house, but afterwards I got into 
the bark of an old tree where there was a hole, and 
I felt that was just exactly my place and, oh, I am 
so happy there." That was the tree cricket. And 
another said, "Well, you know I once came to you, 
and I couldn't get comfortable there. But after- 
wards I found my right place. I climbed up on the 
high grass and I clung there and I wave backwards 
and forwards as the wind swings the grass, and oh, 
I feel so happy there. That is just my place." 
That was the grass cricket. And another cricket 
begai to tell where it stayed and found itself happy. 



JESUS ABI.E TO KKEP. 213 

and at last there was one cricket said, "Alas, I have 
tried all these places, but I can't g-et comfortable. 
There is something" in me always cold and there is 
no place for me." Then a wise old mother cricket, 
that was present, said, ''My child, don't say that. 
You are speaking* ag'ainst your Creator. Depend 
upon it, if God created you. He has g^ot a place 
waiting- for you, and you will find it out. " So they 
parted. Sometime after they met ag^ain and were 
again telling* their experiences; then this cricket be- 
g-an to tell its story and to say, ''Yes, I have found 
my place at last. You know since that time men 
have come to this island, and as soon as they had 
built a house I crept in; they had made a fire and I 
found that is just the place for me, and I g-ot into a 
corner of the hearth and I am so comfortable and 
happy there. I am sure that is my place." That 
was the hearth cricket. And then the application 
that the book made was this: That when God has 
created a need. He will fulfil it. Oh, if there are 
any hungry and thirsty souls, walking in darkness 
and struggling along, and saying they cannot un- 
derstand it, or trying to understand it, and complain- 
ing that they can't reach it, I say to them, lift up 
your hearts to God in trust. The God that created 
your heart for Himself, and the God that made you 
His child in Christ; He will provide for your holi- 
ness if you will trust Him more. Look away from 
all teaching. Use it as a help when you can, but 
look away from it to the living God. He made you 
and He can make you holy. 

Well, as I said, I suppose for fifteen years after 



214 i'HK SPIRITUAI, tIFK. 

my conversion, I went on, and then came the time 
when, in Kng"land, there was a great stir about the 
higher life, and I got some of these books and they 
helped me wonderfully, and I then began to say, 
"Yes, there is a better life.'* It was at that time, 
now thirty years ag-o, in a time of revival in my 
Dutch parish in Worcester, South Africa, that 1 
wrote "Abide in Christ" in Dutch. It was not, per- 
haps, exactly the same as now, but the substance. It 
was at that time that my heart was feeling after the 
truth and beginning to find it, beginning" to g^et hold 
of something" — a little of the blessed experience of 
better knowledg"e of God and of more trust in Him. 
And yet I have to confess with shame that, at that 
time, I often stumbled. One thing" was, I had never 
been taught the absolute necessity, the supreme im- 
portance of literal, immediate, actual obedience to 
God. Some one said to me, about that book, "I 
think you have put it more from the privilege side 
than from the duty side. " Perhaps that is true. I 
had not, at that time, sufficiently seen the call to 
absolute obedience. So it went on, year after year. 
I enjoyed more of God, I enjoyed more rest, I en- 
joyed more peace, I g"ot more victory, and I learned 
to trust God more. The path God led me in was 
not that of one decisive crisis, but step by step. 
Mind, I have g"reat faith that God is willing" to take 
a man in by a sudden step, by a crisis in his life, 
and I count it a very blessed thing, and I think the 
reason that God did not take me in that way was 
simply that I was not properly instructed. I had 
no Christian friends of experience around me to 



kelp, and when you haven't any help in that way, 
you often fail on some little point of obedience or 
faith, and then you fall back again. But then God 
led me on, in His great mercy, I at times failing-, yet 
at times in g-reat peace, till later on, — it would be 
difficult to say, exactly how long-, for there was no 
actual transition — I can see that when I contrast 
the last fifteen years of my life with the first fifteen, 
I praise God for a very great difference. And what 
I praise God for is this: the rest of faith. I can see 
that He has taught me to rest in Him and to trust 
Him and to believe, even if my faith does not always 
rise to its fullest height, but yet to continue in the 
abiding belief that my God is working in me; that 
my God loves me, with a wonderful love, and that 
as I yield entirely to Him He will do a perfect work 
in me. Oh friends, that is what we need, to-night, 
those who haven't it. To come into that rest, that 
rest with God, which leaves everything with Him. 
And what God has done more for me is this: 
He has helped me, I trust to greater and more con- 
tinued obedience. I do not say it is perfect, but by 
the grace of God I have learned to do His will, and 
to do it as a thing unto Himself, personally, and I 
have found the peace and blessing of it. One thing 
more. It has pleased God to use my labors for the 
helping of His children, out in the land where I live 
and elsewhere, and I cannot sufficiently praise His 
goodness that it has pleased Him to use me as a 
vessel, an earthen, empty, broken vessel, into which 
He has poured out His life and of His love, and of 
the living water to bring to others. There is my 



216 I'HJS SPIRlTUAt I,IF^. 

simple, short testimony. There was a time, a third 
of my Christian life, that was in great darkness; 
there was perhaps another third seeking* God and 
the light and rejoicing in it and yet not getting full 
access; another third in which God has brought me 
out deeper into the enjoyment of His life and His 
love — praised be His holy name. 

And now, with these few words, I got courage to 
say them because I find that Paul here gives a per- 
sonal testimony. And what Paul testifies is this: 
He says, "I commit everything to God." Oh, there 
have been times in my life when I have understood 
what that was and experienced it on the strength of 
that word. He committed himself to Christ and then 
he looked up and he saw Christ, able, in His mighty 
power, to keep him and he said, ' 'Praise God for an 
Almighty Christ." And then when he had com- 
mitted himself, he trusted Christ to accept him, and 
he trusted Christ, also, to keep him. That is what 
he says here, "I know Him, in whom I have be- 
lieved, and I am persuaded, I am confident, that He 
is able to keep, and that He does keep that which I 
have committed unto Him unto that day." Dear 
friends, I feel it is an unutterably solemn thing to 
to have this last meeting this evening. I feel, very 
deeply, what an awfully solemn thing it is to speak to 
God's people about alif e of holiness and not really help 
them up into it. I feel, very deeply, how little I am 
able to speak aright about the sin and the low state 
of God's people. I feel how little I am able to show 
them what the unbelief and the want of righteous- 
ness and the fruitlessness of that mixed life which 



SO many live. I feel wliat a solemn thing- it is, that 
t am not able to sound the trumpet as I oug-ht to 
and to awaken them out of sleep and to call them 
and to make them feel, "Man, you can't live one day 
long-er in this low carnal life, you must come out 
undividedly, for Christ." Oh, that I could sound 
the trumpet. I feel, above all, how helpless I am to 
speak, to-nig-ht, what I thought to speak, about the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He is ready, in His almig-hty 
love and power, to take hold of every child of God 
in this house, however far back or low down he is, 
if he will g-ive himself into His almig-hty keeping-. 
May God Himself exalt His blessed Son in the midst 
of us to-nig-ht. 

I want to speak about three points: What it is to 
commit ourselves to Christ; what it is to know Him 
as an almig-hty keeper, and what it is to be assured 
that He will keep us. Shall we not, before we speak 
further, unite in quiet prayer to God for His Holy 
Spirit. 

(Prayer.) 

You know the words of the text, "I know Him, 
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He 
is able to keep that which I have committed unto 
Him against that day." I said, three points. First, 
look at this entire committal of everything- to Christ; 
second, look at Christ as the mig-hty keeper, and 
third, look at Paul with his confident persuasion, 
"Christ will keep me." 

In the first place, the committal. What does 
thatmean? People have sometimes asked. What was 
it that Paul committed to Christ? Some have said 



2lS "fHE SPIRll'UAt ttF^. 

it was his life, in the midst of so much persecution 
and danger; others have said it was his ministry, 
the work that he had to do, as an apostle; others 
have said it was his own soul, with his spiritual 
life and his hope of the crown of righteousness. I 
think it is impossible to separate these things. I 
think Paul meant them all, for he had committed 
himself wholly to Christ Jesus. And now what 
does that word "commit" mean? In the Greek it is 
the very word that is used for what we call, in our 
commercial business, in banks, a deposit. You all 
know what the deposit is in a bank. I have a 
thousand dollars to spare and I don't know what to 
do with it; if I keep it, it may get stolen, or I may 
be tempted to use it too soon, or it lies there with- 
out interest. I go to the bank and I give that 
thousand dollars to the bank, and I say, "Now take 
care of it for me." And the bank gives me what 
they call, in England — I suppose it is the same in 
America — a deposit receipt. And so Paul says, ' 'I 
made a deposit of myself with the Lord Jesus." 
And you know that that deposit of the thousand 
dollars, in the bank, is mine, but the bank keeps it 
for me, and the bank uses it for me, and they pay 
me so much interest. The bank asks me, when I 
go to deposit it, "For how long will you deposit it?" 
Suppose I deposit it there for five years, I leave it 
there, and I get the interest regularly. They keep 
it; it is mine, but it is in their hands. Now, that is 
exactly what Paul did. He said, "I cannot keep 
myself. I have got a very precious thing. I have 
got a heart and a life and a wonderful soul created 



JMSVS ABL^ TO KlSKP. 21^ 

by God, but I cannot keep it. Sin and the world 
and the flesh and the devil are all tempting* me and 
wanting" to rob me of my powers; what shall I do? 
I will g^ive it up to Christ to keep." And he did. 
He g-ave himself wholly. His head, his heart, his 
mind, his affections, his will, his powers, his body, 
his rig-hteousness, that he had formerly, his pro- 
perty, his religion, everything-, he gave up to Christ, 
and said, "Lord, do with it as seemeth g^ood in Thy 
sig-ht and keep it for me." That, dear friends, is 
simply and exactly what a man has g^ot to do if he 
wants to enter into the hig-her life. The great 
mischief with Christians is, that they have given 
over their souls to Jesus to keep and say, '*L<ord, 
keep my soul and let me never perish." That is 
what many people pray. But they have said, 
"Lord, let me keep my will, let me keep my own 
mind, and read and think what I like; let me keep 
my position and let me keep my own money. " They 
ask to keep a great many things and they never, 
never, can have peace or rest. The Lord Jesus 
comes and says he wants all, all, A1.1.. And that is 
the solemn question with which I come to every 
Christian, to-night. Brother, have you given up 
everything you have into the keeping of Jesus? Or 
do you not often talk just what you like? About 
this and that man you say exactly what you choose, 
sharp or foolish things, just as you like. You 
haven't given up your tongue to Jesus. You^ 
thoughts! Do you not often spend your thought^ 
upon yourself or upon the world, just as you like? 
You have never yet said to the Redeemer, "My 



^20 TH^ SPIRITUAL LIF:^. 

mind, with every power, belong-s to the Holy Christ, 
who bought me with His blood." I want you to 
come, to-nig-ht, if you have never said so, and say, 
* 'Christ shall have all." I want to g-o deeper. I 
want to say, are there sins of which you never have 
said, "I give that up to Christ?" There is the love 
of the world. Are you going to say, to-night, "I 
am going to part with the world and to give this 
heart, this life of mine to love Christ, to love Christ 
only, to love Christ with the love that the Holy 
Spirit has given me." Dear friends, you all want 
the higher life, the life of faith, and the life of 
Christ, but remember, we must pay the price We 
must get rid of everything and Christ Jesus must 
have us all in all. May God, by His Holy Spirit, 
work conviction in the hearts of His children, while 
I ask the question solemnly: ''Christian, what are you 
here for, to-night?" Can you say, "I know of noth- 
ing in my life that I have not really put into the 
hands of Jesus and chat He has not got, and that 
He is not keeping for me?" Can you say that? If 
you cannot say it, ask what is the hindrance. 
There may be more than one hindrance, but the 
first and chief hindrance will be this: that you are 
not absolutely willing to part with it. I fear we do 
not understand how literally and how absolutely 
the Holy God in Christ wants to have us for Him- 
self. I cannot fill a vessel unless the vessel is abso- 
lutely empty and at my disposal, and God cannot 
fill us with Himself and the divine life unless we 
get utterly empty of everything, and unless we come 
and give ourselves entirely and unreservedly into 



JKSUS ABI.K TO KBSP. 221 

Hishatids. Now come, to-night. Are jou willing? 
But remember, there can be no success if you keep 
back anything. You have, perhaps, heard the 
story of a rich lady, in England. She had a splen- 
did box of jewelry — diamonds and rings and pearls. 
She was going to travel on the continent and she 
came to a friend and she said, *'This is a very valu- 
able box of jewelry and I am afraid of leaving it in 
the house when I am away, in case it might be 
stolen; so I come and ask you to take charge of it." 
And the lady said, **Very good." There were 
thirty or forty articles in the box; she took out five 
of them, in the presence of her friend, to be used 
when traveling. The box was locked and handed 
to the friend. The lady went on her travels and 
after a couple of months she came to her friend and 
she asked for her box of jewelry. And the friend 
said, **There it is," but where are the things you 
took with pou? Her answer was: *'I am sorry to 
say that they got stolen, I have lost them. " You 
see that all she entrusted to the friend was safe, 
and all that she took charge of, herself, was lost. 
This is just the way with us. All that you try to 
keep in your own hands and and manage gets lost. 
Try and keep your own tongue — take charge of 
your tongue and keep that; you will fail and you 
will sin. Try and keep charge of your temper. 
You will fail and you will sin. All you try to keep 
charge of yourself you lose, but come and bring 
everything into the keeping of Jesus, and you can 
depend upon it you will never repent. Are you 
willing to come, to-night, and to say, *'L<ord Jesus, 



222 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

I want to be a man utterly g-iven up to God, so that 
everybody can see it. I want to be a man with 
nothing" for myself, walking" just in the deepest 
humility and dependence, and letting* God glorify 
Himself in me. I want to be a man sacrificing 
everything for the sake of God's Son and God's love. 
I want to be a man wholly and unreservedly given 
to God, that God may do His very best with me." 
Is that your desire? Then I invite you to come, 
however feeble and however unworthy. Christ is 
waiting. You never can honor and glorify God in 
the way you are living now, but come and commit 
yourself to the keeping of Jesus, and will He not 
prove faithful? Will He not gloriously and won- 
drously keep you and bless you? 

And now, secondly: Look at the mighty keeper. 
Paul said, "I am persuaded that He is able to keep." 
Oh, the mighty keeping of Jesus! May God open 
our eyer to see that. Dear friends, there was a 
time, when I was a young minister — I remember it 
very well — that when I read of the omnipotence of 
God that I thought, well that is not one of the prin- 
cipal attributes of God that I have to do with. We 
make a difference, in theology, between the natural 
attributes of God and the moral atttributes. The 
moral attributes are holiness, goodness, righteous- 
ness, truth and faithfulness. They have to do with . 
character. And I thought that that is what a 
Christian has to do with, but the natural attributes 
that can be seen in creation, wisdom, omnipotence 
and such like, I thought of minor importance. Af- 
ter a time I began to find out how wrong I was, for 



JKSUS ABI,K TO KEEP. 223 

I began to find out in reading- the Bible that at the 
bottom of all faith is omnipotence, the mig-hty 
power of God. I read about Abraham, how God 
met him and said, *'l am God Almighty," and I saw 
that thoug-ht was the rock upon which Abraham 
stood. I found so often, in the history of Israel, 
that God came and appealed to His own mig"hty 
power in His promises; I came down to the New 
Testament and I found how Jesus said that the 
thing's that are impossible with men are possible 
with God, and I beg-an to see that one of the attri- 
butes that I need most in my spiritual life is the 
omnipotence of God; and I need nothing* less than 
that to trust in. And I think I am learning- every 
day more that that is what I need to rest in, because 
the whole work that is to be done in me, in keeping-, 
sanctifying- and teaching me, is all a work of God's 
omnipotence. And then, dear friends, there is the 
Lord Jesus Christ. I used to preach upon His mir- 
acles with great pleasure, and I always spoke of 
His mighty power, but it was only later on that I 
began to see that that that almighty power must, 
not only be exercised when a man is pardoned and 
made a child of God, but that almighty power must 
be exercised every moment in my life. Kvery mo- 
ment. There is not five minutes iu the day that I do 
not need the almighty keeper to keep charge of me. 
And when a man sees that and he reads the miracles 
in the gospels, he ever says, * 'Praise God, that is 
my Lord Jesus." Whether I see Him healing the 
sick, or feeding the hungry, or raising the dead, or 
calming the storm, I can say, ''That is my Christ, 



224 THK SPIRITUAI. I<IF^. 

in whose keeping- my soul is." Beloved, have you 
learned to understand that? I need an almig-hty 
keeper to keep me right. Oh friends, you talk 
about having- your temper kept, or your tong-ue 
kept, or your wandering- heart kept, or your patience 
kept; what is the reason you have failed when you 
have entrusted these to Jesus? One reason is this: 
Your unbelief. You have not g-one and said, "Now 
the Almig-hty God, here in Chicag-o, in a place of 
business, where I am tempted to f org-et God, where 
I am tempted to be ashamed of Him, here in Chicag-o 
the almig-hty power of God is with me in Christ, to 
keep me all the day long." Oh, that I could g-et 
souls, to-night, to trust the almightiness of God for 
for their daily life. You need it, my brother, my 
sister, for your daily life. You do not need it now 
and then, on great occasions, but you need it fot 
every hour of your life, the Almighty Christ to 
keep you right every day. Will you not come, to- 
night, and worship this Almighty Christ, of whom 
Paul tells, ' 'I believe and am persuaded that He is 
able to keep what I commit unto Him I 

Then comes my third thought, the faith in this 
almighty keeper. Yes, that is the most blessed 
part of it. Paul says, ' 'I know Him whom I have 
believed and that is why I am persuaded that He is 
able to keep and that He will keep and that He does 
keep what I have committed to Him." If we were 
to ask Paul, if we could ask Him and say, "Paul, 
what do you mean when you say, 'I know Him 
whom I have believed,' how do you know Him?" 
He would answer, "He loved me and gave Himself 



JESUS ABI^E TO KEKP. 225 

for me. I found that out. He came to me when I 
was' His enemy and He conquered me and He blessed 
me, and He poured His Spirit and His life into me, 
and He revealed His love, and I learned to know 
Him, the Lamb of God who had purchased me with 
His blood, I know whom I have believed, the cruci- 
fied Jesus, and I cannot doubt Him ever ag"ain." 
And he would say further, for he was an old man 
when he wrote this epistle, he would say, "I have 
known Him for twenty years, and year by year and 
time after time, in trial and trouble and persecution 
and deep suffering- and sorrow, in times of appar- 
ently utter helplessness I have tried Him and I have 
always found Him a faithful friend and a loving* 
Master and a blessed Companion and an Almig-hty 
God to help me. I know whom I have believed." 
You have your testimony meetings here on earth, 
often and I often love to be at a testimony meeting", 
it has done my heart g-ood many a time. I call up 
Paul, to-night, and I say, *'Paul, I want you to 
speak so this company of believers, to-nig-ht, and I 
want to envite and encourage every one of them to 
give up all to Christ, Paul, what do you say to 
that?" And-Paul would say, *'He is worthy of it, a 
thousand times over. Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain. '^ And he would say, ^'Christians, donot 
stand back; come and do it." If any Christian 
trembles and says, *'Paul, I am so feeble and so un- 
worthy and so unfaithful, Paul, what have you to say 
to me?" He would say, ''I know in whom I have be- 
lieved. He is the loving One. 1 was the chief of 
sinners — a transgressor and blasphemer — and He 



226 THE SPIRITUAI, I,IFK. 

had mercy upon me that in me He might show forth 
the glory of His grace." And Paul would say, *'I 
know Him whom I have beliered. His love passeth 
knowledge, His power is without limit, '* and He 
would say, **Souls, trust Christ, to-night." Are 
you going to do it? Are you going to say it? I 
hear that man speak, **I know whom I have be- 
lieved." Remember, it was a matter of faith. Paul 
had times of trial and of darkness and of humiliation 
and of suffering, indescribable, and nothing could 
have held him up but trust in God. He says once he 
had the sentence of death in himself that he should 
not learn to trust in himself, but in the living God 
alone, in God who raised the dead, the Almighty 
God, and so he says of Christ, *'I know in whom I 
have believed, and I have put my trust in Him, and 
I have never been put to shame and therefore I am 
persuaded He will keep. He is able to keep, and He 
will do it, unto that day." Paul knew that there 
was a crown of righteousness laid up for him, with 
positive certainty and he said, **He will keep what 
I have committed unto Him, unto that great day." 
And now, dear friends, now we want to come to 
the application. You know what we have got to 
do, to-night. We want to take three simple steps. 
The first step is this: I want to invite you to com- 
mit yourself absolutely, unreservedly to the Lord 
Jesus and to His almighty keeping. I want that to 
be a transaction here, to-night. A transaction. 
And, therefore, I prayed and I pray again, **0h 
Christ, be Thou so present here that every soul that 
is willing may feel that nearness, and take courage 



TH^ I,IFS OF RKST. 227 

and put itself into Thy hands." Come, beloved, 
with all your feebleness, with all your sins and 
shortcoming's and backsliding-s, come with all the 
darkness that, at this very hour, may still be in 
your soul, come, beloved, with all the difficulties 
that are before you. You have said, **If you knew 
my circumstances you would not think it was so 
easy to live the blessed life." I tell you I know that 
there are circumstances of tremendous difficulty, but 
— Jesus Christ is almig-hty. Oh come, will you not 
to-nig^ht, come and commit yourself to Him? 

And then the second step: When you commit 
yourself, the second step is to believe, *'Now the 
Lord Jesus does take me just for what I commit my- 
self to Him. I committed myself to Him, formerly, 
for conversion and He accepted me, I commit myself 
to be kept; He accepts me." ''I have committed 
myself more than once," some one will say, **for a 
new blessing- and I g-ot a new blessing", but it didn't 
last. But I want to commit myself, to-nig"ht, to an 
everlasting- keeper to be kept every day, every hour, 
in the power of the Holy Spirit." This is, indeed, 
a solemn thing to say, but God is willing-, in one 
moment, to give it to an honest soul, and, therefore 
I give my message with great confidence, and joy. . 
Christ is willing to accept you, to-night, and to 
take you into His keeping. Will you not now come 
and trust Him and say, * 'Jesus, I believe that Thou 
art here, present and take charge of me." 

And then comes the third step. That is to say, 
* *Now I am persuaded that H-e will keep me. " Before 
I leave the house, to-night, I look at the difficulties 



228 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

that I may have to meet, to-morrow and next day, 
and what diflB.culties I carry about in my own heart 
or temperament, and I say, ''Jesus, canst Thou keep 
me all along- the line, through this week, up to the 
end of the year, of next year, '96, if I live?" Can 
Jesus keep me day by day? Paul says He can; the 
whole of God's word says He can; there are believers 
who can testify He can. Will you not, to-nig-ht, 
say, "He can, I am sure He can?" He will do it for 
anyone who will give himself up to Him and entrust 
himself to Him. Oh come, young people, with your 
precious, beautiful young lives to live, of twenty or 
thirty or forty years before you, what a beautiful 
thing to begin life better than I did, better than 
others have done, to begin life young and fresh for 
eternity and say, "Every breath, every pulse, shall 
be for Jesus." Come, to-night. Come, you who 
are farther on in the path of life, you men in the 
midst of business, you women in the cares of the 
daily life. Come, oh come, to-night. Let us all 
come to our God in Christ. Come and look at your 
life; then gaze at Christ and His keeping, and come 
and trust Him, to-night, to do it. Old men and old 
women, I call upon every Christian, and if there are 
unconverted people here, who have never done it, 
they can come with us,, and they can begin, to-night, 
and say, "Christ, Thou wouldst have me holy; if 
Thou wilt make me holy, and if Thou wilt keep me 
day by day, to-night I will give up my soul into the 
hands of my Creator." Come, to-night! You know 
how there have been times of war, when a town was 
in danger of being attacked, that people would 



jnsvs ABi,Ej TO KK:ep. 220 

bring- to the bank their valuables to be taken care of. 
It would be said, * *Let all who are afraid bring- their 
g-old and silver plate or anything- that they have and 
have it locked up in the bank." People came and 
the doors were set open and everyone broug-ht his 
treasures and g-ot them safely locked, in case their 
houses, outside mig-ht be burned down or broken 
open. And, oh friends, I say, to-night; Christ, the 
great manager of the heavenly bank, of the heavenly 
place of refuge, the great keeper of the treasures of 
God, flings the door wide open. His arms are out- 
stretched and His heart is open and He is looking 
out to see who will commit himself to His keeping. 
Who will give Him what His heart longs for? Who 
will come, to-night and trust all that is precious in 
life to his Almighty Lord? Who will come, to- 
night, and give up His whole life into the keeping 
of Jesus, in the confidence that He will keep it safe? 
Come, let us do it now. Let us bow our heads in 
prayer. 



230 THE SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 



XEbe %itc ot IRcst 



Now, this morning- 1 want to take one of the very 
simplest thoug-hts of God's word as the subject of 
my address. We have been speaking- for two weeks 
about the spiritual life, but you know where the 
spiritual life is to be put into practice — in the every- 
day life. And to-day, therefore, I want to come 
down very low, to the level of our everyday Chris- 
tianity. It is in the rush of daily life that the pres- 
ence of God is to be experienced, and His power to be 
proved. We beg^an last week by speaking- about the 
work of the Holy Spirit. I tried to point out to you 
what God intends that Spirit to be in your daily life, 
in your walk as holy and spiritually minded men, in 
a walk in love and humility. I tried to point what 
the great hindrances are to a spiritual life, especially 
self. I tried to point out what the blessedness is, 
that will come if we g-ive ourselves to the leading of 
the Spirit and what the object is for which we are 
to seek it. Then we came, this week, to speak 



tHS tlF« OF REST. 231 

about the work of Christ. I beg"an by pointing out 
that His great work is just to bring us very near to 
God, and how I believe that this is a great want in 
the church of Christ; we need more of God, more 
humble waiting upon God in our private prayer and 
worship, and in public services. God must take the 
first place in everything; we must take time to wait 
upon God for God to take that place in our souls. I 
then spoke about how Christ came to exhibit just 
this one thing, a life of absolute dependence upon 
God. He came to reveal to us that God was every- 
thing to Him. We spoke of other parts of His work, 
and last night we closed by speaking about Jesus 
Christ in His blessed work as an Almighty Keeper, 
and ended by a consecration meeting in which we 
gave up ourselves to Him; God grant that many souls 
may know what it is that the Everlasting God is 
keeping them. And now we have to go away to our 
daily life, our homes, our business, our studies, our 
duties, and all of you know by experience that it is 
just there that the failure comes in. It is all right 
in my closet and it is all right in my worship and all 
right in my work when I am speaking for Christ, 
but oh, the times of relaxation, the times when I am 
off my guard and times when I am in the duties of 
this life, these are the times when failures come; 
and the great question now arises. How can I live 
so that not only on the mount of worship, but down 
low in the valley of the most ordinary everyday life 
I may have unbroken the sense of the presence of 
God. Dear friends, if you want the revelation of 
God I have told you more than once you must take 



232 THE SPIRITUAL i.if:e;. 

more time in prayer and have daily fellowship with 
God. You must take more time in your secret hour 
of prayer just quietly to realize God and adore Him. 
But the fullest revelation of God cannot satisfy unless 
it is carried out in the daily life. The value of contact 
with God every day, and the value of the power of the 
Holy Ghost daily, and the value of Christ as a keeper 
must be proved in daily life. More than one beg"ins 
to ask, "Will it last, the blessing I have got? Will 
I be faithful? Will it ever be carried out in my 
dail}^ life?" Listen to the word I have for you this 
morning". It is one of the simplest descriptions of 
the life of faith. Phil. 4: 5-6— " Be careful (or 
anxious) for nothing, but in everything by prayer 
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests 
be made known unto God." Here we have a restful 
life. It is the life of continual trust, continual 
pra^^er, continual praise, continual peace, continual 
safety. Five blessed marks of the blessed life. 

1. The restful life is a life of continual trust. 
That is where it begins. You notice that we have 
the name of God in these two verses twice. In the 
first verse it is, bring your needs, your requests, 
unto God. That is to say let God be the one object 
of your trust and then comes in the second verse and 
God will be a fountain of blessing to you, "The 
peace of God will keep you." These are the two 
sides. My love must be turned to God and God's 
love and blessing will be turned to me. Be anxious 
for nothing. You know how difficult it is to obey 
that command. You hear people tell, when you 
talk about the higher life, "Oh, if you only knew 



I^HK tlFK OF R^S'f. 2^3 

my circumstances." At Northfield a man told me, 
"It is all very well at a convention, but one does 
come into such difficulties in business that it is al- 
most impossible to expect that you will always be 
kept in perfect peace." Now here comes the word 
of God, dear children of God who g"ave yourselves up 
last night, learn the lesson, "Be anxious for noth- 
ing-." And why? Because you have a God that 
cares for you. Oh I wish I could say to my friends 
and myself what I see sometimes. Is God going- to 
do everything so perfectly in nature all around me, 
and is the only place He is going to fail here in my 
life? Look at the sun. For thousands of years 
how perfectly it has been shining, with what abid- 
ing fruitfulness it has blessed the earth. So per- 
fect, it cannot be more perfect, and it was God that 
made it shine. Look on the earth, at these trees 
and flowers and the green grass. Look at the bird, 
the animal, or fish — each one so perfectly fitted to 
show forth the glory, wisdom and power of God. 
And is God not able to work as perfectly in the heart 
of His child, and is the only place of failure to be 
your heart and mine ? I cannot believe it. I believe 
that the God who works so gloriously in the uni- 
verse is willing to work more gloriously in your 
heart, so that your heart shall be the scene where 
His glory is fully revealed, the manifestation of 
what God's love and power can do. But why does 
He not do it ? Because you won't let Him. Because 
you don't trust Him. Because you allow circum- 
stances to come between you and God. Because you 
in your heart believe circumstances are stronger 



234 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

than God. You think, God cannot deliver me from 
their power. You have not g-ot fully under the 
power of the promises and love of God. This word 
comes, '*Be anxious for nothing"." God is willing" 
to take charge of everything". Apply that to exter- 
nal thing"s. One may be in adversity, another may 
be surrounded by enemies, another may not be able 
to keep his eng"ag"ements. There comes the word, 
' ' Be anxious for nothing". " You know how depress- 
ing- it is to have unconverted relatives. Are you not 
to be anxious about that? No. "Be anxious for 
nothing." How can that be? In this way alone, 
that I carry all the care and the trouble and the cir- 
cumstances to the living God, and that I wait upon 
Him until I get sight of my God undertaking and 
taking complete charge. When my soul gets sight 
of that the anxiety goes away and I rest in the per- 
fect trust, God cares; God has charge, and God will 
guide me right. Apply that to your spiritual life. 
I know there are those here who are in great diffi- 
culty about their spiritual life. They have taken 
the step last night, but they have done it more than 
once before, there is a note of fear in their hearts. 
Will it last? I have such a temper, I have such a 
disposition, I have such little help in those around 
me. There are a thousand things around me to 
draw me back. I come to point you to what Jesus 
Christ did. He came to bring us to God. If as His 
humble, feeble servant I can take you and lead you 
to your God my work will be done. What is a God 
for? A God is meant to be the light and life of all 
nature and existence. A God lives for this. We 



THK I.IFB OF RKST. 235 

need a God to be the only power that works through- 
out the universe. A God is meant to have charg-e of 
the creatures He has made and to fill their life with 
His blessedness. Look at your God. Never did a 
mother care for a little child with such watchful 
tenderness from morning to night as your God is 
willing to take charge of your spiritual and your 
external life. Do you know this God ? Have you 
learned to say, *'I do trust Thee. I have no anxiety, 
for my God provides. He is God Almighty and His 
promises are so wonderful and He is so loving and 
tender. I will trust my God." Who is going to 
say, this morning, **God help me. I want to have 
not a single anxiety. I am going to trust God." 
God will do His work beautifully and blessedly, and 
most gloriously. Children of God, "Be careful for 
nothing." You know the 6th chapter of Matthew, 
with those precious words of the Lord Jesus. They 
are not only for poor people who have no clothes, 
but they are meant for every one of us. If God 
clothe the lilies with His beauty how much more 
will He clothe you ? Just think of that. How does 
God clothe the lilies? Not from without. He puts 
within the life that grows up into them and with 
most beautiful freshness there comes up a lily. 
A lily has the life of God, the Spirit of nature that 
comes from God working in it. God clothed that 
lily and will God not much more clothe you and me 
with the beauty of holiness and of humility. Oh 
Christian, take this word, *' Be careful for nothing." 
The restful life is a life of continual trust. 
3. The next mark of a restful life. *'In every- 



236 THE SPIRITUAI, LIFE. 

thing' by prayer and supplication let your requests 
be known unto God." Continual prayer. It is 
in prayer that you will leaxn the secret of trust- 
ingf. If you take but little time to pray you will 
have but little power to trust. Trust toward God 
is not natural to us. Trust is very natural to us to- 
ward a fellow-man. When a man tells me a thing 
I do not take a moment to believe. We are on the 
platform of nature. When my God speaks we are on 
another platform. God is the Invisible One, a Spirit 
of holiness, and I can trust Him only by the Holy 
Spirit coming" into me. If I live under the leading" 
of the Haly^Spirit my heart grows larger, my capac- 
ity of trust is increased, my eyes are opened up and 
I see the glory and limitless promises of God and the 
treasures of His grace. I see His heart and Omnipo- 
tent love actually engaged in blessing me, and my 
heart learns to rejoice in Him. In prayer I learn 
to trust Him. Remember this, "In everything." 
That means temporal things, that means spiritual 
things, that means g^eat things and that means 
little things. Some people pray about the great 
things, great troubles, but not about the little 
things. That is wrong in the life of faith. Some 
think that the word means, All I can manage I 
keep in my own hands, and all I cannot manage I 
may expect God to take care of. This is not the 
way. God must have all committed to Him. One 
asks me, How can I know the will of God in a diffi- 
culty ? My brother, the way to know that, in diffi- 
culty is to follow the will of God in simple things. 
Let the Holy Spirit show you the will of God in little 



THE I.IFE; OF RKST. 237 

things every day, and when great perplexities come 
the Holy Spirit will reveal God's will. What a 
privilege it is amid the worries of daily life and dif- 
ficult circumstances to leave them all with God. 
Just to say, **Lord, these circumstances I bring- 
them all to Thee, I entrust them to Thee." By 
prayer and supplication I can put them into my 
Father's bosom indefinitely. I can give them over 
to Him and I can rest there until conscious that the 
Spirit assures me they are in God's hands. In more 
prayer you will learn the secret of trust in spiritual 
things. How often we go to a minister, or to a 
teacher, or books (not that I am depreciating 
teachers or books, but when we depend upon them 
they come between us and God). How often we 
have questions and say, **I wish I could ask that 
question. I wish he would tell us what bethinks," 
instead of going with every question to God and say- 
ing, I do not expect the voice of an angel to bring 
an answer at once, but I want in answer to prayer to 
put the difficulty in the bosom of the Father, and I 
know by the secret in-working of the Holy Spirit 
He will give me light on it and lead in a right path. 
Let your life be full of prayer. I have spoken about 
this need of daily fellowship with God. I have put 
a few thoughts together and had them put in print 
to be distributed among the friends. They contain 
some instructions as to how the soul ought to culti- 
vate daily fellowship with God, in taking the place 
before God, in realizing His presence, in taking our 
place in Christ Jesus in deepest humility, and count- 
ing upon the work of the Holy Spirit. If you will 



238 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

follow these instructions, or any others in God's 
word, you will find it such a blessed thing to come 
and bow before God and present your petitions. 
But you say, *'Is God not listening to what I say 
before I have felt the consciousness." Such prayer 
helps very little. *'By prayer and supplication 
make your requests known unto God.'''' Let your 
heart feel that you have made it known to God. 
God will answer, *'I have heard; leave it with me." 
If you will thus pray your prayers, there will be a 
new joy, a very fountain of blessing opened up to 
you. May God make us all men of prayer. Re- 
member that the apostle says, "In everything." It 
does not mean only about your own needs, but the 
blessedness of prayer is, it gives me power with God 
as intercessor. The great work of my Lord Jesus 
is to be always interceding. There is no more 
heavenly work than intercession. And yet, how 
much neglected, how little practiced. Let us learn 
by prayer and supplication to bring everything that 
might make us anxious to God. Here is a minister 
with a congregation, how many things hehastomake 
him anxious? His own weakness, his own spiritual 
life, the state of his members, some worldly Chris- 
tians, some unconverted people — how much to make 
him anxious? What a privilege in intercession to 
get rid of it all, and throw it into the bosom of 
Jehovah, and to say, I have made it known to God. 
That is enough. There is a great deal in the church 
and its worldliness that might well make us tre- 
mendously anxious. Some are deceiving themselves 
with a great deal of formality, with a great deal of 



TnE LIFE OF REST. 239 

head-knowledge, and the real personal love of Jesus 
is wanting-. But oh, do not let us bear our burdens 
and anxieties ourselves, but learn the rest of trust, 
the rest of faith. The blessed life is the life of con- 
tinual prayer, pouring- into the heart of God every- 
thing* that comes into my heart. 

3. Not only continual prayer but continual praise. 
*'In everything- by prayer and supplication ivith 
thanksgiving. " Our prayers should be mingled with 
thanksgiving for many reasons. The first practical 
reason: Prayer will be sure to cause depression if 
you do not mingle it with thanksgiving. In prayer 
you may get too much occupied with self; you turn 
to search out all your needs and they are so many 
you will be in danger of getting anxious. Here is 
the cure for it. The apostle says. Always pray with 
thanksgiving. Begin your prayer with worship 
and thanksgiving. Another reason for thanksgiv- 
ing : It pleases God. It will draw Him to you. Be- 
gin your prayer with praise. It will light up your 
heart. It will make you rejoice in God, and joy 
gives new power in prayer. Begin your prayer with 
praise. It will give wings to your faith. When 
you think of what God has done, and what God has 
promised to do, praise Him for it. Thus, God will 
do more every day. When you neglect to praise 
God you rob Him of His glory and yourself of a: 
precious privilege. When you hear of men con- 
verted, when you read a missionary letter showing 
blessing in His work, praise God for the work that 
is being done. When you hear of any good of a 
man, praise God for it; take every opportunity for 



240 THE SPIRITUAI. LIFE. 

praising-. You will find it ever leading you onward, 
ever upward. It gives a consciousness cf God's 
goodness, of joy and trust in Him, ever mingling; 
your heart will be established in the rest of faith. 

4. "And the peace of God that passeth under- 
standing shall keep you." Who is there to-day that 
would like to have the peace of God, the peace that 
passes all understanding? Who would desire 
it? Are there any hearts here that say, Would 
God that I could have it ? Just think what a peace. 
What does it mean ? It means this : not only the 
peace that God gives. No; it is the peace of God 
Himself. We read in the Hebrews that we must 
enter into the rest of God. God says, They are not 
entered into my rest in Ps. 95, and Hebrews tells 
us they had not been brought into the real rest, 
*'But we which have believed do enter into the rest 
of God," the rest of knowing that God has finished 
His work. God has cared for everything. I am a 
child of God. What a rest. The peace of God, that 
great calm in which God ever dwells, can come down 
into my heart. God gives His holy presence, and 
with that presence the sense of His nearness and 
His love and His great peace. Don't separate the 
peace of God from God Himself. God cannot give 
His peace the way I take a piece of money out of my 
pocket and gire it away from me. Just as the light 
of the sun is always coming direct from the sun, and 
I must have the sun^ then I can have the light; so it is 
with the peace of God. I must have God, and when 
I have God then the peace of God as an outflow will 
keep my heart Who wants to have the great peace 



th:e; I.IFK OF RE^s'T. 241 

of God ? God is a being- of infinite stillness and rest 
and a peace passing- all understanding-. The soul 
that really commits itself, with every care, to this 
God, will have Him, in His perfect rest and peace, 
take possession. 

Beloved, you can have the presence of God every 
moment, and where the presence of God is the great 
peace of God is. The g-reat peace of God can be 
with you all day. How can I get it? '* Be anxious 
for nothing-." Trust God. Meet God and give up 
selfish desires into His bosom. With thanksgiving- 
praise and adore Him and the peace of God shall 
come and fill your heart and life. 

5. Fifth mark of the restful life is perfect safety. 
The word is a beautiful one. "The peace of God 
shall g-uard your heart and mind by Christ Jesus." 
Shall g-uard it. Shall keep it. You had that word 
last night, ' ' Now unto Him who is able to keep. " 
How blessed to have heart and mind kept. I cannot 
keep them. The heart is always ready to wander 
and g-et discourag-ed, with its fears and perplexities. 
But in the g'reat peace of God coming- down to keep 
heart and mind, my whole nature may be kept 
through Christ Jesus. Believers, I beseech you by 
the mercies of God to live this life of perfect rest. 
We have spoken to you about the Holy Spirit and 
His work, and Christ and His work revealed that 
He might bring- us to God. And this text comes and 
says, After you have brought yourself, bring every 
anxiety, too, and every desire unto the living- God, 
and leave it in His bosom. Be assured that as you 
reach out after God, He will send down the very 



242 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

peace of heaven to keep your heart and mind in 
Christ Jesus. Dear Christians, is each one of us 
going- to live in accordance with this blessed word ? 
Ministers of the g"ospel who have got to preach to 
others, I quoted the word yesterday, I am going- to 
quote it ag-ain because it made such a strong-, deep 
impression in my heart, "The first duty of aclerg-y- 
man is humbly to ask God that all that he wants done 
in those whom he teaches may first be fully and truly 
done in himself." Brother ministers, have we the 
great peace of God keeping our hearts and minds by 
Christ Jesus from morning to night, from Sunday to 
Saturday, in the pulpit, in the study, in the home, 
in society, in the street, in our whole life? If not, 
how can we preach it ? God give every servant of 
His in the ministry such an experience of the great 
peace of God ruling in his heart that he may be able 
to preach it in the power of the Holy Ghost. Ask 
God to do so. And you workers, it is an easy thing 
to come and talk about the peace that has been made 
by the blood of Christ. We praise God for that 
peace, but there is something far deeper than that 
peace that was made by the blood of the cross; there 
is life ever kept in the peace with God. "Thou wilt 
keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon 
Thee." Christian workers, do pray. It is not the 
hurry, it is not the worry, it is not the study, not 
the running hither and thither, the much talking 
and much working that will have effect for eternity, 
but it is the great power of God. And God's power 
is revealed in the world, not in the earthquake so 
much, but in the still, small voice. Christian work- 



the; I.IFK OF re:st. 243 

ers, students, come let us offer our hearts to God 
and ask Him very humbly, that His g-reat peace may 
have perfect possession of us. And if we feel we 
have not g"ot it, and it won't come, or that we have 
lost it, let us pray. Listen, "Be anxious for noth- 
ing*. " Do g"o with every anxiety, direct to God, with 
praise, prayer, and thank sg-iving-. Praise Him for 
what He is going- to do, but be anxious for nothing". 
Let every foreboding- anxiety drive you to God. 
Christian workers, let the great peace of God enter 
your hearts to-day. Do walk as examples of men, 
into whom God has poured His own peace, and let 
the humility and the lowliness and the meekness 
and the gentleness of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of 
God, be the mark of your life. God help us to that. 
Amen. 



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